Schools lend support to Southwest Covenant
BETHANY — Sam Brandt wanted to come and go quietly.
Bethany' s star quarterback is the vice president of the Bronchos' chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. When his president presented the idea of signing hand-written notes to take to Southwest Covenant, he loved the idea.
Bethany' s FCA students began writing until they had nearly 100 notes to bring to the school. They wanted to help alleviate the pain of Peter Webb's passing. Webb died because of head injuries he suffered during a game on Sept. 13.
On Thursday, Brandt helped deliver the notes to Southwest Covenant, who said there action from the school was something he hadn't expected.
“We didn't want to make it about the football team, but more about the community,” Brandt said. “It affected more than just the football team.
“You can't even imagine what they're going through.”
Brandt is among the hundreds of people, teams and schools across Oklahoma to reach out offering support to Southwest Covenant and the Webb family this week. Many of those celebrations of Webb's life occurred when the lights came on Friday night.
Students sections across the state began to spread the word early in the week: wear blue. Mustang and Westmoore's s t u d e n t s t r a d e d t h e t r a d i t i o n a l reds for blue. Fort Gibson and Minco and Christian Heritage Academy are just a few of the schools who traded different themes to unite with one color, signifying they were cheering, hoping and praying for the Patriots.
"Everybody is Patriots t onight," Moore Public Schools athletic director Brian Fitzgerald said.
A c r o s s t h e s t a t e , moments of silence were s a i d a n d p r a y e r s wer e s poken before whistles b l e w a n d g a me s we r e u n d e r w a y . A l t h o u g h S o u t h w e s t C o v e n a n t didn't take the field Friday night, the small, private Christian school in Yukon s eemed as i f i t was t he main event.
Web b ' s f u n e r a l wa s held late Friday morning. Wesleyan Christian, which was scheduled to be the Patriots' opponent Friday night, drove three hours from Bartlesville to attend the funeral. Strother, last week's opponent, was also in attendance.
Tyrone, a Class C team i n t h e p a n h a n d l e f o u r hours from Yukon, didn't have a game Friday yet drove down in the earlymorning hours to attend.
“I t m e a n s a l o t , ” Southwest Covenant principal Kevin Cobbs said. “It's comforting to know people support you, love you and t hey're willing to do what they can, even though they didn't know Peter, to show support.”
Although Webb and his teammates weren't playing Friday night, he and Southwest Covenant were on the minds of thousands across the state.