Kennedy: The Ooltewah Owl who gave a hoot

photo Mark Kennedy

The box score tells the story.

Ooltewah High School scored 35 points in the first quarter of its Aug. 22 football game against Brainerd High School, 23 points in the second quarter and led 58-0 at the half.

Two things can happen in a game like this. The team on the short end of the score can unravel and lose its composure. Or, in extraordinary cases, members of the losing team can maintain discipline, give maximum effort on every play and share a life lesson in fortitude.

Kyle Duckett, the 256-pound starting right guard on the Ooltewah Owls football team, says the latter is just what happened as he and his teammates watched the over-matched Brainerd Panthers charge out of their stances again and again on that hot night back in August.

"They never gave up," Duckett says. "Up by 20, down by 20, they always seem to play the same way. They kept picking each other up. And they acted like gentlemen."

Brainerd High School head football coach Brian Gwyn says that is by design.

"We tell them [the players] to block out the naysayers, keep focused and success will eventually come," said Gwyn, who has coached the Panthers to three wins in their last five games. "It's not about fussing at the guy next to you when things go bad. We win as a team and we lose as a team."

Duckett says he has seen players who are hopelessly behind in a game begin to bicker. Other times, tired defensive linemen get frustrated and start taking swings to shed blocks, he says. But not Brainerd.

The Owls are 8-0 going into Friday night's big game against Cleveland High School. At a time when most seniors would be savoring the chance at an undefeated regular season and looking ahead to the playoffs, Duckett can't shake the memory of that Brainerd game two months ago, which ended 58-12.

In fact, he says he lies awake at night dreaming up ways to rally support for the Brainerd football program. Maybe they could use some help painting the handrails at their stadium, he decides. Or maybe the Ooltewah sports boosters could help raise money to help Brainerd buy new uniforms or equipment.

Kyle's mother, Beth Duckett, explains: "[Kyle] has told me that he feels that they [the Ooltewah team] have been so fortunate to have had so much help from the community that they should pay it forward and give back something."

Kyle is emphatic on one point: "It's not that I feel sorry for Brainerd, I just want to help them." He worries that the Brainerd coaches or players might take offense if they hear about his offer of help, but his heart compels him to speak out, he says. "That's the way I was raised," he said.

For his part, Coach Gwyn puts those fears to rest. "We never turn down help," he said.

I visited Kyle last Friday afternoon during his team's off week. He lives in a modest house at the end of a gravel road in Ooltewah. He was home with his best friend Jacob Keltch, the left guard on the Ooltewah football team. Keltch says a lot of the other guys on the team have bought into Duckett's dreams about helping Brainerd once the season is over.

I asked the two friends if their views of this year's game with Brainerd were shaped by being on the losing end of a lopsided game sometime in their own careers. Duckett instantly recalled a game his sophomore year against mid-state football power Siegel High School in which the Owls were shellacked by the visitors from Murfreesboro.

"They manhandled us," Duckett remembers. "They beat us like we were nobody. I never wanted to lose like that again." [The Owls returned the favor this year with a win over Siegel in Murfreesboro.]

Duckett, a student of the game of football, said he has read about the rich football traditions of some of Chattanooga's urban schools. He says his hero is NFL Hall of Fame player Reggie White, who played at Howard High School. If the game ever withers away at urban schools, Duckett says, he worries that some great athletes might miss out altogether on playing football. He couldn't help but notice that Brainerd dressed only about half as many players as Ooltewah this year, he said.

I asked him to tell me his dream for Brainerd.

"If everything unfolded the way I wanted, I'd want them to have all the resources we do," Duckett said. "I'd love to hear people say, 'Dang, Brainerd looks good in those new uniforms.'"

At the end of the day, Duckett is just a kid, though, and all he can do is dream, talk and inspire. But adults can hear about his dream of partnering the two schools and carry the ball.

I hear folks in the suburbs often wonder aloud how they can make a difference in the lives of urban kids. This is how. Break out your paintbrushes and pressure washers. Open your wallets. Set aside your fears.

After the season, why not show these young men from Brainerd High School that their discipline and dignity in the face of adversity have not gone unnoticed?

And, while you're at it, show the Kyle Ducketts of the world that being raised to follow your heart is being raised right.

Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645. Follow him on Twitter @TFPCOLUMNIST. Subscribe to his Facebook updates at www.facebook.com/mkennedycolumnist.

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