The deadly EF-5 tornado that ripped through Oklahoma had a profound impact on the entire community. In an area where prep football is king, it should come as no surprise that the region has sprung into action to help support players for an area power rebuild to contend again in 2013.
As reported by The Oklahoman, 19 members of the powerful Moore (Okla.) Southmoore High football team lost their homes in the tornado that wrecked multiple schools and public facilities throughout the Moore area, just outside Oklahoma City.
The tornado struck the area just days before Southmoore was to play its annual Spring fundraiser intrasquad scrimmage, and while officials initially hoped to go ahead with the game, it was eventually called off due to unsafe road conditions and larger issues impacting many of the team’s players.
Needless to say, chief among those issues was the aforementioned SaberCats’ lack of a home.
Luckily, those players have a devout support network behind them in the form of the Southmoore booster club. Overnight, the school transformed its traditional football-focused website to load with a call for donations to help the team’s affected players rebuild. Within hours and days significant funds had been raised, and the program aims to begin parceling out aid immediately.
That is a heart-warming touch on a tragedy that has affected those far beyond the Moore school, a young school which has earned a spot in the Oklahoma Class 6A playoffs three times and reached the state semifinals in 2009.
There’s little question the SaberCats will play with added motivation in 2013, particularly if players who lost homes and other belongings in the tragic, sudden storm channel their emotions into their performance on the field.
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