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MIDVALE — Highland High School defeated Hillcrest High School 31-6 on Friday night in the Huskies’ first game since head coach Cazzie Brown’s death.
Brown died on Sunday from meningitis caused by West Nile Virus. Brown was in his second year of head coaching at Hillcrest having previously spent time on coaching staffs at East High School, Highland High School and Judge Memorial Catholic High School. The game was dubbed the “Unity Bowl” and unity was certainly the theme of the night.
Emotion was high from the moment the players walked onto the field. Players from both teams walked out of the tunnel holding hands with one another. Written on many of their arms were the initials of Cazzie Brown. The teams formed a circle at the 50 yard line and continued to hold hands as Hillcrest’s principal, Gregory Leavitt, lead the crowd of hundreds of people wearing white in a moment of silence.
“Because Highland and Hillcrest are so much in his heart, we just met our coaches together and decided, hey let’s do this together”, Leavitt said.
Senior quarterback Tyson Flores called the gesture “really special.” The energy in the stadium was palpable, “Coming out as a (unit) just for coach Brown, it really meant something to me. I know he was looking (down) and he was really happy about that too.” he said.
Fans from both teams came together to remember their former coach and friend. Jeremy Chatterton worked with Brown at Judge Memorial and considered him a close friend during their time together.
“He really established a strong foundation when he was at Highland and a lot of people really loved him, but what he’s been able to do here at Hillcrest has been really special and it’s been nice to be able to see the Hillcrest community come out and support him the way they have,” Chatterton said. “I know he would be very touched. He’s made an impact on a lot of people in not only the Hillcrest community, the Highland community, but the Salt Lake community, and it’s really special to see all those people come out together one night and support him.”
Cazzie Brown’s son, Bishop Brown, is a junior at Hillcrest and played in the game. He spent all week preparing for the game but never thought he’d have to do it without his father.
“Toughest week of me and my family’s life but we’ll get through it together and with all the support that we have around us,” he said. “It’s crazy, he was changing the world one person at a time and he was really starting to get on to something but now we have to carry that on as a family and as a community, but we’ll be alright.”
At the conclusion of the game, both teams took all of their players, went to each other’s sidelines and pumped up the crowd by chanting “Rams” and “Huskies” together. The game meant so much for both teams that the final score didn’t seem to matter to the people in the stadium.
“Coach Brown never cared about the score, he just cared about how we worked, and I believe we came out and worked as hard as we could. And I believe he would be proud of what we did tonight and how the community came together,” Flores said.
A GoFundMe account that was set up for Brown’s family has raised over $95,000 since the start of the week.
