It could have been a disappointing year for members of the football team at Grace Brethren High School in Simi Valley, Calif. (The school is a ministry of Simi Valley’s Grace Brethren Church, Jordan Bakker, pastor.) Forced to forfeit a championship game last year, then ruled ineligible for postseason play this year, players could have chosen to compete elsewhere. But everyone is sticking with their team. Below is a portion of a story about the team from the Ventura County Star. Click here to read the complete article.
Grace Brethren’s Tucker Robertson stays true to his school to the end
Tucker Robertson has been going to Grace Brethren School since he was in kindergarten. He certainly isn’t about to stop now.
Not even if the high school football team is ineligible to go to the playoffs in his senior year.
Last season, during the week of the CIF-Southern Section East Valley Division championship game against Saddleback Valley Christian, Grace Brethren self-reported the use of an ineligible player. Not only were the Lancers forced to forfeit the title game, they were ruled ineligible for this season’s postseason.
But Robertson, a 6-foot-2, 260-pound lineman headed to the University of Nevada, is sticking firm to Grace Brethren.
Not only that, but so is everyone else.
No playoffs? Isn’t that what high school football is all about? Robertson chuckles at the question.
“We’ve had a lot of people asking us about that. We’ve had zero transfers,” Robertson said. “I think that really surprises a lot of people. At first it was a shock and it was very hard to get through. … That was probably the worst news I’ve ever heard in my life and that was very tough. … I still find it extremely unfair to the players. I don’t see why we’re getting penalized for an adult who made a mistake.”
Josh Henderson, in his seventh year as head coach, is impressed and grateful for Robertson’s loyalty.
“He’s a Grace Brethren all-the-way-up kid,” the coach said. “Going into high school, he really could’ve gone anywhere. He really could’ve. His parents have worked really hard to put themselves in a good position. He chose to stay with us at Grace Brethren and I think it’s really cool. It’s a great story.”
Click here to read the complete article.