TSA’s Athletic Director, Todd Whetsel, describes a moment during last week’s game against Pacelli that embodies what it means to be a part of the Tattnall Family.
Near the end of the 3rd quarter of last Friday night’s football game at St. Anne Pacelli, I commented to Adam Grant, who provides security for the football team, that Tyler Warnock needed to get at least one carry. I also made the comment that what he did with that carry would be up to him. While these comments were made in jest, they were made because Tyler had a carry in each of the first two football games that resulted in long touchdown runs. Well, Tyler got his carry, and what he did with it was simply amazing.
Tattnall had the football on its own 25 yard line -75 yards from the end zone – when Tyler received the ball. After some good blocking and weaving through some traffic, it became clear that for the 3rd game in a row, Tyler would have a long touchdown run. Then the unexpected happened. Tyler stepped out of bounds at the 1 yard line. Even though I did not know why he stepped out of bounds, it was obvious that it was done on purpose. That, of course, raised the question, “Why?” Little did I know that we would get the answer to that question on the next play.
Earlier in the week at practice, Coach Jones had put in a special goal line play for Dillon Shaw, a senior wide receiver on the football team. So why would a wide receiver be moved to running back for a goal line play? While Dillon is not the star of the team, he embodies what a team is all about. He was given this opportunity because of his attitude and work ethic. There is only one other player on the team who has attended more workouts this summer than Dillon. Dillon could have chosen the path that many choose. “I’m not getting enough touches! I’m a senior. I should be a bigger part of the game plan.” Instead, Dillon chose to make it about the team and not about himself.
At this point of the game, the chances of a goal line play for Dillon looked pretty slim until Tyler took one small step out of bounds. One small step by Tyler showed us what sports is all about. One small step by Tyler showed us what team is all about. One small step by Tyler showed us what family is all about. One small step by Tyler gave a teammate a well deserved opportunity, brought the team closer together, enthused everyone in attendance and gave us all an example of what each of us can do with just one small step.