(Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune) Hillcrest students listen to the National Anthem before the game at Hillcrest High School Friday, September 1, 2017. Cazzie Brown passed away Sunday night after spending four days in the hospital. According to a family representative, Brown was brought to the emergency room Wednesday for complications with his thyroid. The doctors found that he had contracted meningitis, and later received a preliminary positive after being tested for West Nile virus.
Midvale • “Family on three,” Bishop Brown yelled from the middle of the huddle, surrounded by his Hillcrest teammates. “One, two, three”
“Family.”
Hillcrest had just lost to Highland 31-6, but none of the players were thinking about that. Cazzie Brown was the only thing on their minds. The beloved Huskies coach died Sunday, and their game Friday was dedicated to him.
“My dad changed a lot of people’s lives, so I think that’s where that comes from,” Bishop said about the tribute to his father. “Now I have the legacy to carry on, so it’s just wonderful how much love and support we have.”
Hillcrest’s football stadium filled before the game with fans clad in white to honor Cazzie Brown.
“One pack, one goal,” he’d say.
HIGHLAND 31 HILLCREST 6 <br>• Hillcrest takes the field five days after coach Cazzie Brown died suddenly. <br>• Highland works with Hillcrest to create the Unity Bowl in honor of the Rams’ former assistant coach. <br>• Highland improves to 2-1 with the win.
Friday’s game between Hillcrest and Highland, where he was an assistant for five years, was centered on that message. They named it the Unity Bowl.
The teams walked out from the tunnel side by side, hand in hand. The coaches from both sides wore the same white T-shirts with “CB” in big letters, and “ONE PACK, ONE GOAL” printed below.
Highland and Hillcrest enter the stadium hand in hand. pic.twitter.com/7sB6dMM6Ty
— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) September 2, 2017
After the game, they came together again in the middle of the field before thanking both sides of the stands in one large mass of green and white.
“Once in a lifetime experience,” Hillcrest defensive coordinator and interim coach Will Hawes said. “Because of the cause, I hope I never have to experience this again. But because of who it was, I’m glad we had this chance to do this because this was incredible.”
The game was decided early on. Highland scored on the opening kickoff when Trayton Keyes returned the kickoff 97 yards. The Rams added two more touchdowns in the first quarter — on a 34-yard pass from quarterback Cole Peterson to Richard Tialavea and a 4-yard run by Matthew Parkin — to grab a 21-0 lead.
The Huskies’ lone score came on Alex Cardona’s 4-yard touchdown run.
Bishop Brown said he could hear his father guiding him throughout the game.
“He will always be a part of me,” he said. “Everything that I do now is through him.”