CLEARWATER, Fla. — First 10-win season, check.

First district championship, check.

The Calvary Christian Warriors did a lot winning, but the team's unprecedented season ended in a loss to Lakewood in the regional finals. 

What You Need To Know

  • Calvary Christian posted its first 10-win football season

  • The team also won its first district championship

  • Junior running back Ricky Brown won off the field with his Best Buddies contributions

“I’m very proud of this group of young men,” head coach Reggie Crume said. “We proved a lot of people wrong. But most importantly, we proved ourselves right.”

It’s never easy when a season ends, especially when the last game is a loss Calvary some players could only stand and watch, as the Spartans punched their ticket to the state semifinals.

One of those players standing on the sideline was Ricky Brown. The junior running back doesn’t get a lot of playing time, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t contribute to the Warriors winning season.

In fact, what Ricky did off the field was bigger than any win on it.

Ricky and several other Calvary players helped out a member of the Best Buddies program with their elaborate homecoming proposals. They made signs. They made their proposals. And Best Buddy member Raquel Caramello picked Ricky.

“I think I really made a good part of her life and I really enjoyed it,” Ricky said. “It was definitely a changing point in my life.”

Ricky said his life has revolved around football for as long as he can remember. He gets so much out of the sport. But nothing could prepare him for what he got out simply asking a young lady to the homecoming dance.

For making a fellow high school student, who just happens to have Down Syndrome, feel extra special. And he says that simple act of kindness changed him forever.

“I feel like I look at the little things a lot more often,” he said.

Like winning — it’s one thing to win a game, or in the Warriors case, a lot of them this season. But what Ricky and his fellow teammates did off the field, that kind of character and leadership certainly carries over onto the field.

“This was a fun group to coach,” Crume said. “We can go 1-9, as long as we’re developing young men, we’re getting our guys off to the next level.”

Ricky and his fellow Calvary Christian Warriors season is over. But the lingering effects of what they did together as a team, and what Ricky and the Best Buddies did, sends a big message everyone should hear loud and clear.

“Everyone’s equal. Everyone’s the same. Just treat everyone equal,” Ricky said. “Everyone’s human. Everyone has their own problems in life. Just be kind.”