STORY BY: GEORGE KHALSA / GAMEDAY

ASHBURN, VA - It was a whiteout when the Briar Woods Falcons hosted the Broad Run Spartans in a much-anticipated meeting between the reigning AA Division 4 State Champion home team and the visitors who themselves were the State Champs in 2008 and 2009.

The Spartans would win this game 14-0 in front of a packed house that included hundreds of people watching the game from behind the stadium outer fences. The larger significance of the game however, was the reason behind the plethora of white shirts with Ryan's name and #1, worn by fans on both sides of the field. This game was a tribute and fundraiser for Ryan Diviney, a football and baseball star who graduated from Broad Run High School in 2008.

Ryan was savagely beaten by two young men in a parking lot in November of 2009. With a crowd of mostly young people looking on, Ryan was repeatedly kicked in the head and remains in a coma to this day fighting for his life. The perpetrators of the crime received ten and one year jail terms and are in the process of trying to get paroled at the earliest possible moment.

There is no parole for Ryan and his family, who have to marshal every bit of love, not to mention their entire reservoir of both inner strength and material resources to keep Ryan and the hope of some level of recovery for Ryan alive.

The Briar Woods parents enthusiastically joined with the entire Broad Run community to call attention to the Diviney's plight with the full confidence that if it were one of their own who needed help, the Spartan community would have been more than happy to respond in kind. If there are any positives to be taken from this heartbreaking situation, it is in the universal support of the Ashburn high school sports community for this worthy cause.

Football, to state the obvious, is a rough game played and coached by highly competitive young men and adults for whom cooperation with your rivals is not the rule of thumb. Tonight however, in this contest which is, if nothing else, the classic grudge match, I saw at least two examples of sportsmanship that was worthy of the evening's cause.

The first was a gesture by Broad Run head coach Matt Griffis with less than forty seconds remaining in the game. Up 14-0 with a first-and-goal on the Falcons one-yard line, Griffis opted to take a knee twice and let the game clock expire without putting any more points on the scoreboard. Did he have to do that? "No, he did not," said Briar Woods head coach Charlie Pierce after the game. "He had every right to let one of his players score a touchdown. I say, 'thank you.' "

After the game I spoke with the victorious quarterback, Connor Jessop. "The fans," he said, "make a big deal about this game. There is a lot of nasty stuff going back and forth on the Internet. But for us players, this is just another game. We are happy to get the win, but there is no bad feelings between the teams. I'm friends with a lot of the Briar Woods players. We just love to compete."

While Jessop wasn't making a specific reference to the honoring of Ryan Diviney, what he did was express the best of what high school athletics can teach young people. Put 100% of yourself into the competition and play to win. But don't forget, as Jessop said, "This is a game we enjoy playing." Football is important because it is an activity in which the participants can strive for excellence. But it is not more important than faith and family, and that is the message of last night's football game.

For more information about Ryan Diviney go to www.ryansrally.org.