October 2008 Clay Meyer
Mir-a-cle (mir´e-kel) n.
1. An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature, held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God.
2. One that excites admiring awe.
3. A miracle play.*
Maybe the third definition could now appear: 3. A miracle play. See: final play – Trinity University (TX) vs. Millsaps College (MS) – Oct. 27, 2007.
There’s no better way to describe the play that transpired as the final two seconds clicked off the scoreboard at Harper Davis Field in Jackson, Miss., almost a year ago. Tabbed “The Miracle in Mississippi” by local media, many of the players and coaches feel the term “miracle” is a bit heavy to be used when describing a football play.
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"What we did was a great experience and a great play, but sometimes I feel like calling it a miracle may be a little much.”
– Coach Jason Guthrie |
“A miracle is when somebody has cancer and it goes away, and they are able to spend the rest of their life with their family.” said Jason Guthrie, Trinity’s receivers coach. “What we did was a great experience and a great play, but sometimes I feel like calling it a miracle may be a little much.”
Guthrie might be right. Maybe scoring a 60-yard touchdown, in which seven players combined to lateral the ball 15 times, is not on the same level as God healing a cancer patient or protecting someone in a car accident. But then you find out that Brandon Maddux and Riley Curry, the final players to touch the ball and receive much of the national attention surrounding the play, are Christian men who understand that God is to receive the glory in everything. Even if it was just a spectacular football play, the fact that the players are using their platform to spread God’s Word—well, that can only be described as an act of God.
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Before the 2007 season even began, the Holy Spirit was working in the Trinity Tigers. Upperclassmen, including Curry and Maddux, displayed biblical servanthood to their new teammates when they arrived on campus for opening day check-in. They welcomed the newcomers and handed out FCA material, gospel tracts and bottled water to provide relief from the Texas heat.
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The Magnificent Seven: Michael Tomlin, Stephen Arnold, Brandon Maddux, Josh Hooten, Blake Barmore, Shawn Thompson, Riley Curry. The number of footballs represents the number of laterals thrown by each player.
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A few weeks later, Trinity’s head athletic trainer, Mark Powell, with the help of San Antonio FCA Field Associate Steve Ribble, began the Wednesday night Huddle and Bible study that roughly 35 student-athletes (many of them football players) attended.
Maddux’s father, Butch, started a weekly e-mail devotion series that was sent out to more than 100 players, coaches and support staff, and also led pre-game devotions and prayers before both road and home games. More than 15 players attended the pre-game services, which, according to Maddux, “challenged the players to get right with God before entering the field of competition so that they could be used for His glory.”
*****
By their fifth game of the season things were getting interesting for the Tigers. The team suffered an upset defeat at the hands of Tennessee’s Rhodes College, which meant that, in order to stay alive in the conference championship hunt, they would need to win each of their remaining five games.
They cruised through the next two games easily enough, but then traveled to Jackson, Miss., to take on the defending conference champion Millsaps College Majors. Trinity was fully aware that this would be the toughest game on their regular season schedule. In order to prepare, the team paid close attention to the pre-game devotional, which provided biblical inspiration about (literally) facing a giant. First Samuel 17: David versus Goliath.
“Many people seem to think that it’s only a great children’s Bible story,” Maddux said. “But it’s a story of God’s empowerment. We were blessed to see that empowerment on us that day.”
*****
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Trinity’s Shawn Thompson completing lateral #6 to Brandon Maddux.
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The game was tightly-contested, and with only 2:11 remaining, Trinity scored a touchdown on a fourth down to pull within two points of Millsaps, 24-22. Millsaps recovered Trinity’s ensuing on-side kick attempt, but the Tigers were able to hold on defense and reclaim the ball.
The stage was set: 60 yards from the end zone and only two seconds left on the clock. Perhaps even Goliath appeared more conquerable at that point.
“I guess, as a coach, it’s hard not to look at the odds of scoring given the circumstances,” Head Coach Steve Mohr said. “But I have to admit, the players really had confidence.”
The coaches kept it simple and instructed the first pass to be over the middle with improvisation to follow.
Improvisation was apparently the key word.
Quarterback Blake Barmore delivered a 16-yard strike to receiver Shawn Thompson, who tossed it back to Curry, who then lateraled it to lineman Josh Hooten. This continued down the field where Michael Tomlin and Stephen Arnold also got involved. It all culminated when Maddux, in an almost desperate heave, bounce-passed the ball perfectly to Curry, who scooped it up, scooted past six Millsaps defenders, and dove into the end zone.
“It was all kind of a blur to me,” Curry said. “I can watch it on YouTube, but it was like I wasn’t actually a part of it. I felt like I was just watching it unfold. Somehow, there was always another guy behind the guy with the ball to pitch to.”
Sixty-two seconds in real time had passed, 60 yards had been covered, seven players had touched the ball for 15 combined laterals.
