RIVERVIEW, Fla. — One look at the face of Cayden Coffey and you see his dad, Riverview High flag football coach David Coffey.

What You Need To Know

  • In the regular season opener, Riverview and Steinbrenner flag football teams raised funds and awareness for breast cancer

  • Riverview coach David Coffey and his wife Jessica wanted to honor her mom, Dena, who died from breast cancer

  • Jessica made history as the first female football player at Steinbrenner. She used sports as a way to help cope with the loss of her mom

Mom Jessica sees it. But it takes just one look into her son’s eyes and she sees someone else. Someone very familiar.

When she looks into Cayden’s eyes, she sees her mom.

Flag football is a family affair for the Coffey’s. But on the first night of the regular season, they weren’t wearing Riverview blue. Pink was the color of choice. And for a very special reason.

“We’re showing support for breast cancer awareness and how important it is to keep up on your health,” Jessica said.

When Steinbrenner and Riverview played against each other, they did more than kickoff the flag football season. They brought awareness and raised funds for breast cancer research. It’s a cause near and dear to Jessica’s heart.

She lost her mom Dena to breast cancer. To cope with her loss, Jessica took to the football field. She made history at Steinbrenner High School as the first female to play football.

“Sports in general were an escape for me and my brother, and it just gave us something to just focus on,” she said.

It also became a way to honor her mom. Every game day, Jessica wrote her mom’s birthday on her wrist tape. And she could hear her mom when things got tough.

“During games when I wanted to just pout and not shake it off, really just get mad at myself, it would kind of run through my head that she wouldn’t want that,” Jessica said. “She’d want me to shake it off and move on to the next play.”

Jessica is still honoring her mom. At the football game and also in the way she lives. And the lessons she teaches her son.

That voice inside her head that used to help her during games, it’s still there. And it’s still offering words of wisdom.

“You can’t dwell on the past,” she said. “You just gotta shake it off and onto the next play. The next play is still game day. So you gotta keep going. That’s what we’re going to teach him. Hopefully if he wants to do sports, or whatever he decides he wants to do in life.

“We just have to show him that you’ve got to get up, rub some dirt on it and keep moving.”