Opposing High School Football Players Go Viral For Praying Together

(CNN) – Two high school football players went head-to-head during a game in Texas Friday night, but they captured many people’s hearts when they bonded afterward.

A picture of that moment ended up going viral.

“When you’re playing the game, you’re playing to win and the other team is the enemy,” said Sherman High School football player Gage Smith. “But afterwards, you still have respect for the other opponent.”

Smith said he knows West Mesquite player Ty Jordan from a select 7-on-7 team they both played on. Jordan’s mom is battling cancer and Smith asked to pray with him after the game.

“I just had a moment with him praying over him, his mom, and his family,” Smith said.

He said in that moment, it was not about the score or being opponents. It was about showing compassion.

Jordan’s aunt posted the photos on Facebook and expressed how much the gesture meant to their family. So far, the picture has more than 140,000 shares.

“To see that it blew up, I was very surprised by it,” Smith said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be like that, you know? I was just doing it for him and doing it for his mom and his family.”

Sherman Head Football Coach J.D. Martinez said Smith has been a team leader both on and off the field.

“He’s a true leader,” he said. “He has compassion, and it followed through for a lot of the guys on the team.”

Martinez said his wife happened to capture the special moment. She sent the pictures to Smith’s mom who then passed them on to Jordan’s family.

“It’s pretty special that kind of everybody gets to see really what he is,” Martinez said. “He’s that type of kid all the time. It’s just not in front of the cameras or anything like that. He’s like that every day.”

Smith said football brings people together in different ways, and the prayer was just one example of it that night.