BELLBROOK — As the Bellbrook High School football team takes the field tonight for Touchdown 7′s game of the week against Tippecanoe, there will be two people noticeably missing from the stands.
Kicking off football season at Bellbrook High School, the team got together Thursday night for a team dinner.
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While the cheerleaders cheered on the team ahead of their first season game, the seniors shared a special moment with their dads.
The dads presented their boys with their senior jerseys, but for seniors Nick Cumpston and Brayden Turner, their dad’s weren’t there.
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Turner lost his dad when he was just 3-years-old, and Cumpston moved to Bellbrook after losing his dad when he was 14.
“It’s been a long journey,” Cumpston said. “I thought about quitting when he passed away, but I know he wouldn’t want that.”
They made the decision to continue playing the sport that both they, and their dads loved.
“He would’ve been coaching me through peewee, been to all my games,” Turner said.
The journey has been made easier by the father figures who stepped up when called. Cumpston’s uncle, Ben, presented him with his senior jersey.
“It’s an honor to stand in place for my brother and if he were here tonight, he would be very proud of the man nick’s become and the ball player he’s become,” Ben Cumpston said.
For Turner, defensive back coach Mike Lawson, who was his first football coach way back in peewee, had the honor.
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“I knew his dad, played sports with his dad, I know what an athlete he was, how proud he would be of Brayden today, he and his mom asked me to present his jersey, I consider it a huge huge honor,” Lawson said.
While their dads may not physically be in the stands tonight, this game is for them.
“I do this all for my dad. He was big on my sports, I know he’s still watching me. He’s got the best seat in the house on Friday nights watching me,” Cumpston said.
“Every day I go out there and play for him, and for my mom over there, because she stepped into that role and was both mom and dad, so definitely all for her,” Turner said.
Both Turner and Cumpston don’t plan for their football careers to end after this season.
Turner already has two offers to play in college, and Cumpston is hoping to show off this year and earn a college scholarship to play at the next level.
The game gets underway at Bellbrook High School starting at 7 p.m. Friday night.
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