High school football: Lopsided win leaves Colts feeling in the pink

MURRAY — Pink is not a color most high school football players wear willingly.

But Thursday night at Cottonwood High, both the Colts and the Cyprus Pirates accented their traditional school colors with plenty of pink in an effort to raise money for breast cancer research.

The first high school football game associated with Swing for Life's fundraising efforts on behalf of the Huntsman Cancer Institute was a huge success, according to coaches.

The event was spearheaded by Cottonwood senior Kyle Aberton — whose mom, Laura, is a breast cancer survivor. The defensive back and his parents have spent the last two months raising money and planning the event, which began with a tribute to survivors and ended with a field goal kicking contest featuring girls soccer players from about a dozen different schools. Before the game even started, the event had raised more than $8,000.

The Cottonwood High student body officers went through the stands for just 60 seconds and came up with $340 for the cause. Cheerleaders for both teams wore matching pink sweatshirts donated by St. Mark's Hospital and they sold raffle tickets throughout the game.

"We had great support from the community," said Cottonwood head coach Cecil Thomas after the 52-8 win that clinched second-place in region play for the Colts. "I don't see why it couldn't be an annual deal. We couldn't have done it without the support of Cyprus. That was huge."

Also huge was the Colts' offensive performance. Knowing it was "senior night" and that a win ensured home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs next weekend, the team was very focused, despite the possibility of distractions.

"Honestly the kids were focused all week," he said. The team discussed last week how the "Black and Blue for Pink" would work. They decided to call it that because one of Cottonwood's colors is black and one of Cyprus' colors is blue and they came together to raise money for breast cancer research.

The event wasn't a problem for the Pirates, either.

"Not at all," said Cyprus head coach Brian Jacketta. "It's a good cause and our kids were happy to do it. Everybody just jumped on board and it was good for everyone to bond around it."

He said the NFL's decision to have players participate in a month-long fundraising event helped with any stigma that might have existed.

"The NFL really set the tone," Jacketta said. "It wasn't a hard sell. It was a nice extra thing for our kids to be involved in."

While he would have liked to see the Pirates put up more points, he's proud they were part of the first prep football game aimed at raising money for the cause.

"That's going to be special for us," he said.