Kids & Family

High School Student with Down Syndrome Scores Touchdown [VIDEO]

A football dream comes true for a high school senior in New York.

Yorktown, NY — It was the touchdown of a lifetime last Friday night for Josiah O’Brien, an 18-year-old high school senior with Down Syndrome. O’Brien has served as the Yorktown High School football team's manager for the last four years.

It was the end of the game when the crowd started cheering, "Josiah! Josiah!" O'Brien took the ball at the 20-yard line and sprinted ahead to the end zone for a touchdown.

His teammates rushed to congratulate him and celebrate.

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"He was very happy," Rev. Dan O'Brien, said about his son. "[Josiah] was not expecting it. It was a surprise. He enjoyed it."

The team’s coach, Mike Rescigno, said he came up with the idea to involve O'Brien in the game while thinking of ways to honor the seniors on his team.

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"I just felt that it was time for him to get his due," Rescigno said about O'Brien. "The rest is history."

In his role as team manager, O'Brien carries water and mostly supports his teammates. During games, he normally wears his jersey with the number 75 on it. But Friday night was different – he also wore a helmet, shoulder pads and hip pads.

"I know that he lives for game day in the same exact manner that any coach or player ever has," Rescigno said. "The fact that he [had] the opportunity to contribute with his teammates on the field itself is symbolic in many ways."

Rescigno has been O'Brien's coach for the last four years, but he says that their friendship started simply as a byproduct of small talk regarding football in between classes.

"Josiah has a lot to teach others," Rescigno said. "He is a spiritually grounded kid beyond words. Perhaps it is because of this glaring characteristic that Josiah and I became close."

O'Brien has also been embraced by the tight knit football team. At the end of the game on Friday night – rallied by Rescigno – the athletes cheered "family" as they huddled around O'Brien. During the team's banquet last year, he received the "Twelfth Man Award."

"I really appreciated Rescigno embracing Josiah and really including him over the last few years," Rev. O'Brien said. "The coach is behind all that.”

Besides football, O'Brien loves to spend time with his family and participates in the teen ministry group at the Calvary Bible Church where his father is the pastor. He is devoted to his faith and takes his Bible to school. O'Brien also loves music and plays the drums after school, his father said.

"I suggest that you all find the time to get to [know] kids like Josiah," Rescigno said. "He has changed my life."


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