MASON, Mich. (WLNS) – In case you missed it, the Mason football team defeated Detroit King, 26-20, to advance to the state championship for the first time in program history. However, the trip to Ford Field had to make a stop at a Mason High School teacher’s classroom.
Mason’s top pass catcher, Kaleb Parrish, is no stranger to the end zone. The senior reached double-digit touchdowns in October, but in the Bulldogs’ first playoff game of the year, he broke his hand and had to adjust to playing with a stick.
“I was very angry,” Parrish said. “It was like kicking the ball after dropping it.”
That didn’t stop him from making the winning catch in overtime of the regional championship game, but as expected, it wasn’t ideal.
That’s when Mason High School food and consumer sciences teacher Deb Schafer intervened.
“I knew Kaleb had broken his hand and I knew he was wearing some type of brace, but I had no idea how it was affecting his catches until I got a phone call from Coach Chapin who told me we needed help,” Schafer said. “So we were trying to think about how we could turn his stick into a catcher’s glove and some of the early prototypes were literally pieces of leather with sweatbands. Finally, we found something that would work in the form of a plaster covering. Kaleb gave us one of his gloves that was slightly torn and ready to be recycled. So I took it apart, sewed it into the cast cover, and then I got texts from Coach Chapin last week saying, “We’re practicing.” Is working. He doesn’t miss a catch.’”
“When Mr. Chapin told me the idea, I didn’t know it was going to work, and then he showed it to me and I said, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’ It has to work,’” Parrish said. “I am very grateful for her. She didn’t have to do that and just knowing that we have the support that we have, just like the people that just do that, follow her own path, let us know that we have to win the state finals and give back. to the community”.
Schafer was able to see his creation work and work well in Mason’s victory over Detroit King.
“When he started making catches, I was sitting with my 4th grader and they were saying ‘The glove! The glove!’” Schafer said. “We were applauding and we were very excited. He makes you look at the game in a completely different way.”
