Resilient Lions
The Moore Lions have returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2005 and four years after a tornado ravaged the community.
MOORE — Nyle Holder remembers the sound of the train and the destruction.
A student at Highland East Junior High at the time, he was shocked at the damage the May 20, 2013, tornado caused. Then he saw the football field.
It was littered with debris. Equipment was lost.
“We had to adjust at a young age,” Holder said.
For a program that feeds into Moore High School, things looked bleak. But those players used the tools learned from a community-wide rebuild to help reshape the Lions’ future.
Four years after the tornado, Moore will play Jenks at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Class 6A-I state quarterfinals. It’s the program’s first playoff game since 2005.
And it has so much meaning.
“I think this is a good opportunity for us to give back,” Moore senior offensive lineman Cainan Nelson said. “We’re giving back to the community because they’ve given a lot of time and a lot of money and a lot of emotion into coming and watching our games.”
On a young team that went 4-6 in the first year under coach Brad Hill, this week is a building block. They’re the heavy underdog against the state’s most successful program.
But to taste the playoffs makes up for the past four years.
Holder, now a senior, recalled the damage from the tornado with detail. The locker room was mangled. The school was in shambles. So was the surrounding area.
But he still had football. Highland East players practiced with Central. They practiced at Moore Schools Stadium. That helped form a bond ahead of playing together in high school.
That’s why he never left the Lions, who are 18-92 since the 2005 playoffs. Friends urged him to transfer to a program with more wins.
“I’m glad I stuck with it,” Holder said.
Nelson had moved from Shawnee after the tornado, but he was part of the rebuild in eighth grade. That kept him at Moore the past four years.
“It made it a lot more meaningful to me to make it here and to know you go through this,” Nelson said. “Then growing up here and just reforming the program from 12 years ago back to what it was.”
Nelson said he has seen a steady change.
Players are more accountable. They support each other. They work hard.
“What I think helped us is being a lot more connected,” he said.
Hill is a big reason. He’s built off last season’s 5-5 record with the young squad. And despite three straight losses to end the year, they have confidence going into next week.
“It’s exciting,” Hill said. “That was the goal coming in to get in. The kids bought in, so it’s good. That’s what we wanted was for us to be playing in Week 11.”