Team stuck in Vegas bound for home thanks to Dolphins

WASHINGTON,D.C.— Thanks to the Miami Dolphins, the members of a Miami high school football team are headed home almost a week after scoring a big upset in Las Vegas.

Dolphins players stepped up Thursday, paying for lodging and transportation for the 69 Miami Central players, coaches and administrators forced by Hurricane Irma to remain in Las Vegas after their 24-20 victory Sept. 8 over defending threetime national champion Bishop Gorman High School.

“I’m ecstatic because anytime you see an organization like the Dolphins think about and take care of a high school team like ourselves, that’s amazing,” Central coach Roland Smith told the Miami Herald’s Armando Salguero.

The Dolphins know how it feels to be displaced. Their season opener was postponed until November and, with Irma bearing down, they headed for California, where they will play the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.

When players read about Miami Central’s plight, they got involved. Members of the Rockets will leave in parties of six to eight per flight, with the last expected to arrive home Friday. Dolphins players Kenny Stills, Ndamukong Suh, Reshad Jones, Lawrence Timmons and

Jarvis Landry were among the first to kick in donations to help pay Miami Central’s tab in Las Vegas.

The Rockets, 3-0 and ranked 10th nationally, found compassion from the team they upset. Bishop Gorman paid for the Rockets’ hotel rooms from Saturday through Monday and bought dinners, and other meals also were paid for.

Team members say their families back home were lucky not to experience too much damage. A few family members made the trip to Las Vegas, but most did not, and the storm prevented most of the players from reaching relatives until Monday.

Miami Central’s next game was scheduled for Thursday and, because it is a nondistrict game, it might not be rescheduled. That means the Rockets next would face IMG Academy, ranked first by USA Today, on Sept. 22 in Bradenton, Florida.

Maybe now their lives can start to get back to normal.

“When you have an organization the kids look up to and they step forward, it’s an awesome thing,” Smith said.