KANSAS CITY, Mo. — At the school on the hill, sits a team on a mission, alumni feeling an all-time high sense of pride, and thousands of screaming fans on their feet — all For the City.
"It’s for the city," Pastor Timothy Haines told 41 Action News. "We're winning for the city."
The last time Lincoln Prep won a district championship in football was 1969. That was the year after Marcel Denmon graduated
“The field didn’t look like this and the stadiums were over there," Denmon said, gesturing toward the distance, "so it’s a much different view."
The view all season had been superb from the stands for the Blue Tigers' faithful, especially when your team is in the midst of a history making campaign.
Lincoln Prep was 11-0 and played the only undefeated regular season in school history before a 23-8 loss Friday against Platte County High School in the Missouri Class 4 District 8 title game on the Tigers' new blue turf.
Lincoln Prep, which also played with heavy hearts after running back Israel Gentry was injured in a car wreck earlier this month, is best known for academic prowess, but recently they’ve pounced on the gridiron and into the hearts of every underdog.
That's why winning the game was important, but the pride, the feeling behind For the City, went well beyond the white lines.
"We’re in 18th and Vine,” Jye Scott, a junior at Lincoln Prep, said. “We’re in the black historic district. Yeah, we've gotta win for the city. We've gotta put on for the city.”
Haines is one of Lincoln Prep’s biggest fans. The self-proclaimed 12th man realizes what this season meant to Kansas City.
“For the City means we’re doing this for all the people we lost to homicide, all the people that’s lost to drugs, that counted every black person out in the city." he said. "We’re doing this For the City.”
