Laura’s Blog

Late in the 4th quarter, the chant begins from the student section of the football stadium: “We want Ike! We want Ike!”

Before the last play of the game, Snohomish High School calls a time out. And they send in Ike, a junior who lives with Down syndrome.

The center snaps the ball to the quarterback, who hands it off to Ike. And off he goes, dodging tackles, and eventually, scoring Snohomish’s only touchdown of the night. You would think Snohomish High School had just won the Super Bowl.

I wasn’t at last Friday’s game, when Ike scored his now-famous touchdown (viewed nearly 2 MILLION times on YouTube this week). But my son was. Imagine an 18-year-old pumped up after his team just won a huge victory. When he came bursting in the door after the game, all he he could say was, “Ike scored! It was so cool! A TV camera crew was there. I’ve gotta watch the replay on the news!

Didn’t matter that his team lost, 35-6 (Snohomish gets creamed every game anyway, so no one really cares about the score). What mattered was that Ike got to score. And that’s cool. Classy. An example of true sportsmanship, particularly by the Lake Stevens players who badly wanted their first shutout against Snohomish in 20 years.

It makes me so, so glad — with all the horrific news we hear daily — that the media is reporting this inspirational story. An article in the Everett Herald reports:

Numerous media outlets from coast to coast reported the story, and the Snohomish and Lake Stevens head football coaches were bombarded with more than 100 e-mails from inspired viewers, even one from Jamaica.

Ike doesn’t realize how big the story is, his mom said. But the flood of attention delighted Ike’s parents.

“I’ve been laughing my head off all day,” Kay Ditzenberger said Tuesday. “Ike goes viral!”

I think you’ll enjoy this video of Ike scoring his TD as much as I do.

Do you have an idea for an inspirational story or video? Why not share it? You never know who might be watching.