PIKE COUNTY, Mo. — Sports, especially area high school sports, is about more than just games. The Clopton/Elsberry IndianHawks football team exemplafied that when presenting a check to the Louisiana Bulldog’s football program to help with medical expenses of Bulldog Angel Ulloa.
Ulloa was in a car accident Monday, Aug. 10th. Unfortunately, the crash resulted injuries that have him recovering in the hospital.
“We had heard about Angel’s accident and wanted to show him, his family and team that we were pulling for him,” said IndianHawks Head Coach Butch Wolanski. “As a team, each player and coach put in a couple dollars to hopefully help out Angel’s family during their tragedy. Then the IndianHawk Football Booster club wanted to contribute, so they matched what we had raised.”
Area high school football is set to begin on Friday, Aug. 28th, and the Bulldogs will be playing for more than their first win in the EMO Conference against North Callaway, they’ll be playing for their teammate who’s fighting a battle of his own. It’s another example of how important sports are to area student-athletes.
“The game of football is such a special community and when your part of it, regardless of which team you play for, it’s a brotherhood,” Wolanski added. “We have a conference of tremendous coaches who care greatly about their kids. While the rivalries on the field can be pretty intense, off the field the kids and coaches have become pretty close and have a huge amount of respect for each other. The Louisiana community is in our thoughts and we’re hoping things get better soon!”
“We as a football program and community are very grateful and appreciative of the donation by Clopton/Elsberry’s football program,” noted Bulldogs Head Coach Gregory Pitzer. “Anytime something like this happens it tends to unite surrounding communities together in a way. It goes to show the level of mutual respect and care for each other we have albeit we are rivals on the field.”
Clopton/Elsberry and Louisiana are set to play each other at Cunningham Field on Friday, Sept. 18th.
Presenting the donation to the Louisiana Bulldog program were IndianHawk team captains Jacob Wolanski, Zakk Eivins, Riley Walker and Avery Hall. Accepting the donation on behalf of the football team were Quincy Hutt, Tramaine Chatman and Mason Washington.