AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Two football teams faced off Friday night as they each deal with the loss of a loved one.
The Academy of Richmond County was playing on the road at East Laurens without teammate Se’Vonn Small, who drowned Monday at Clarks Hill Lake.
And East Laurens lost Juwan Edmond to an ATV accident Monday.
Although ARC played hard with Small in their hearts, East Laurens prevailed in a 24-17 game.
ARC has dedicated the rest of the season to Small, so there will be plenty of other chances to honor his memory.
ARC got its first chance to honor Se’Vonn at Thursday night’s junior varsity game.
There were tributes along with his framed No. 43 jersey.
As the ARC players traveled Friday to the game near Dublin, all the helmets and jerseys were on the bus, with the exception of one.
“Not here physically but in hearts and minds,” said Keenan Grissett, ARC’s head football coach.
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“We’re going to stay Se’vonn strong,” he said. “We’re going to play Se’vonn strong.”
“Strong” is the key word.
“How do you battle through?” the coach asked. “You take Se’vonn’s spirit of inquisitive, of wanting to be corrected and wanting to be better. And we take that and we continue with it.”
There’s only one way to continue
“And that was the way he would, and that’s hard,” he said.
“Everything he did was one speed – and that was 100%.”
That’s the only way to push forward.
“We lost a brother in the flesh again. But we gained an angel in the spirit,” he said, “and one that can get us over some humps that we never, never may see coming.”
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