When a football game ends, and I approach a team huddle, I never know what to expect.
The conversations are certainly better after wins than losses, but what I saw Friday night in Mount Ayr after the Lynnville-Sully football team ended its season with a loss to the ninth-ranked Raiders stuck with me a little bit
L-S coach Mike Parkinson usually says a few words and then lets each of his coaches say something, too.
This particular conversation ended with an emotional Parkinson thanking his players for a memorable season.
It was almost a season that wasn’t for Parkinson though. He resigned from his positions at the school to take an assistant football coaching and teaching job at ADM of Adel.
Fortunately for Parkinson, his football job at Lynnville-Sully opened back up shortly after it was filled, and the Hawk coach had a change of heart.
He stayed at the school, led his team to a No. 3 seed in Class A District 7, and the season ended at the state quarterfinals.
“There is some emotion there. It’s not about me. It’s never been about me,” Parkinson said. “These 44 guys are my kids. It was a hard decision in the beginning, but it’s not hard thinking about now. It was a no brainer to stay.”
While interviewing Parkinson after the game, I noticed a few of the Hawk seniors hanging out a few yards away.
That usually doesn’t happen so I was curious as to what was about to happen.
After my five-minute conversation with the coach, he walked over to the foursome and Sage Ehresman, one of the Hawks’ best players, said “Thank you for staying, coach. We want you to carry the trophy out of here.”
Parkinson hugged all four players, said a few words and once again had an emotional, but memorable moment, with his players.
Ehresman was the team’s best offensive player and one of the squad’s top defensive players, too. He’s not the only player who contributed to a season that wasn’t expected by many to end in the quarterfinals, though.
“He’s been our go-to guy this season. He deserves every accolade he gets because he has worked his tail off,” Parkinson said of Ehresman. “But it’s not one guy. It takes all the 11 to make it go. I am proud of not only 27 but all the other guys we had on the team.
“Nobody thought we’d get this far and have a chance to win.”
I remember my senior year of football back in 1998. That final game is an emotional night. I never had a coach who said he was leaving then changed his mind to stay a few months later though.
Parkinson also coaches track and field. You can tell his players truly do love him. And most of Parkinson’s emotional ending to his speech to the team Friday involved a lot of “I love you guys.”
I won’t try to predict whether or not Parkinson will ever make a decision to leave the school. No one else should either.
I also wouldn’t blame him for making a decision that he feels is best for his family. But graduating senior Noah Engle let Parkinson know that he can coach the Hawks for as long as he wants.
“You better stay here forever coach,” Engle said.
For a group of eight seniors, which includes Engle and Ehresman, it will be hard to say goodbye. For the rest of the team, losing Friday should motivate them to do even better next year.
“It’s harder for the older guys, but this gives the younger guys a taste of what this loss feels like,” Parkinson said. “This is a legacy (the seniors) get to leave. I don’t know that anyone would have predicted us to get this far. We were about the only ones who believed we could do it.
“It’s still unfinished. The job is never done. The guys who are coming back can use this as a learning experience. I hope they set their sights on this and just remember that this was a team that wasn’t supposed to beat Pekin and wasn’t supposed to beat Winfield-Mount Union.”
It was a fun year for the Lynnville-Sully football team. It was even more fun because Parkinson was still on the Hawk sidelines.