GURLEY, Ala. (WHNT) – Something special happened on the football field at Madison County High School on Friday, May 15.

Grissom High School came out to play a spring game. It’s a chance for the coaches to size up their strengths and weaknesses.

But what the players did before the game, and for a special young man, showed their real strengths.

Raising a special needs child has its moments, including special moments. They may be few and far between, they may require more patience and planning, but they can and do happen. They especially happen when everyone is on your side.

Trevor Landers has been a fixture on the sidelines of Madison County High School football games for almost seven years.

“His older brother Wes was part of our football program and Wes is just a great kid that loves his brother, and he took him to practice with him, he took him to meetings and he just became a guy that was standing around all the time,” said Head Coach Scott Peavey. “He’d come out to practice with us and stand back there with me and his role in our football program grew every day.”

Wes eventually graduated but ‘Coach Trevor,’ as they call him now, kept his spot on the sidelines, every season, every game.

“He’s been an inspiration for all of us. I really, really have come to appreciate him being on this football team,” said player Gage Watson.

“You see how much he loves football and we kinda take it for granted being able to go out there, suit up and play every day,” said player Gabe Ozio.

There’s a ritual at Madison County High before each game. After the coach goes over some key plays, the starting players are introduced there in the locker room, long before they take the field. But on this Friday night, that honor would be reserved for one player only — a young man who loves the game but was never supposed to play.

“So here we go, let’s get ’em going,” Coach Peavey said as he revved up the team.

“The thing about having a high school football team is you gotta have a running back. Get ’em going, get ’em going! And in order to be successful, we’ve got to have a guy that’s going to be able to move the ball. We’ve got a guy that’s waited his chance, he’s waited his whole life,” Peavey said. “We’ve been growing him up since he’s been young so he could carry the ball for the Tigers baby, and tonight’s his night!”

“Starting tonight, for the Tigers, we’ve kept him in a cage his whole life, tonight we let the beast out. He’s number 27. He’s Trevor Landers!!”

The team’s applause was deafening.

And so under those Friday night lights, Grissom and Madison County lined up on the 40. The ball was snapped and the hand-off went to Trevor. With some excellent blocking from both teams, they cleared him a path all the way to the end zone. Trevor scored.

The celebration went on for several minutes but the lessons learned here are worth a lifetime. Because as any good coach knows, there’s much more to football than just winning or losing. It’s how you play the game, and it’s how you treat those around you. It’s about character, and those special moments that can and do happen, when everyone is on your side.

Trevor’s mom tells us Coach Peavey, as well as the many players that have come and gone over the years, may never fully realize just what they’ve meant to Trevor, and what a positive influence they’ve had on him.

With regular season play just over 90 days away, you’ll find Coach Trevor there on the sidelines, helping lead the Tigers to victory.