Newtown High School in Connecticut found a reason to celebrate over the weekend on the anniversary of a school shooting massacre that killed 20 children and six adults.
The school won the state high school football championship over Darien, 13-7, thanks to a last-second touchdown.
"Obviously it was going to be difficult and we wanted to make sure they were prepared," superintendent Lorrie Rodrigue told the Hartford Courant about the team playing on Dec. 14, seven years after the 2012 tragedy at nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School. "The consensus was they wanted to play and this was important to them."
The victory marked the first time the school won the state title in 27 years.
According to the Courant, some players on the Newtown team went to Sandy Hook. One player even lost his brother in the shooting.
"People were in tears, feeling so proud of the boys, knowing that you have to overcome your own feelings to really emerge as victors on this kind of day," Rodrigue said.
The victory has caught the attention of the national media and was even mentioned during an NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"On a dark day, for even just a moment everyone was elated with what the team accomplished," Newtown's first selectman Dan Rosenthal told The Wall Street Journal.
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