Moore High School Football Team Rallies Around Coach With Cancer

Emily Wood, News 9

MOORE, Oklahoma -- When the Moore Lions take the field this week, the high school football players will be looking for their first win this year, but it's not the biggest battle they're facing.

The Moore Lions say they're more than a team, they're a family.

"In football, you're family," said one player said. "Don't think about yourself, that's how you get beat, when you have those individual players."

And they're a family that has faced some pretty tough challenges.

"Last year we went 0 and 10 and this year we've yet to win a game," a player said.

But the toughest challenge this family ever faced came last year.

"December of last year I had some lower back pain and fought it off for a month," Moore Lions Head Coach Scott Myers said.

Coach Myers soon learned he had cancer in his kidney and spine.

"We all prayed about it right there on the spot on the field," a player said.

Since that diagnosis, Myers has been traveling to Texas for treatments--first surgery, then radiation and now chemotherapy.

"Most of us didn't know what was going to happen, honestly," said Lions offensive tackle Billy Wood. "We didn't know if he was going to be gone for the season, didn't know if he was going to be going back and forth."

Myers somehow made it back for every Friday night game. Coach Myers worked, to push the team toward victory no matter how intense his battle with cancer may be.

"It's a struggle for him, some of the things he does, because he's aching and he's in pain, so how can we be like, 'Oh, I'm a little sore. I'm going to take the day off,'" Lions middle linebacker David Cowan said.

The Lions play for Coach every practice and every game. They even have t-shirts that say, "Play 4 Coach" on the back and "Lions vs. Cancer, Our Toughest Battle Yet."

The players said they want to somehow pay him back for the sacrifices he's made for them. They are now hosting a fundraiser in Coach Myers' honor.

"All the fundraisers, shirts, play for Coach, none of it's been his idea, he's never wanted focus to be on him," Cowan said.

This week the whole school is pitching pennies into giant buckets, hoping to raise at least $5,000 to help with Myers' medical bills. But, they said the biggest gift will be pulling out a win at their final home game Thursday night.

"We always say, 'Play for Coach,' it's pretty tough when you say you're going to play for Coach and you can't get it done in the end," said one player. "That's a big struggle."

Coach Myers wants the win, too. But said his team has already given him something more.

"It made me stronger to be around this program," said Myers. "It's not all me in this program, it's what this program does for me, too."

In this toughest battle yet, Myers said he's gotten the acknowledgment most high school coaches never receive.

"In one sense I'm the lucky one that I get to see what they say and have had former players come back," said Myers. "I hope players out there will search out that old coach and let them know what they meant to them."

When the Lions take the field for maybe the final time Thursday night they've got one more message for this inspirational coach.

"We love him and gonna play our hearts out for him in our last game Thursday night," one player said.

The Lions' supporters are expected to pack the stadium.

No matter what happens, Coach Myers said he's confident his team is going to come back even stronger next season.

Watch extended interviews with Coach Myers and his players at OKBlitz.com.

The OKBlitz.com team will be live at the game Thursday at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Get scores and highlights of the game and all the games across the state at OKBlitz.com.