Emotion Carries Columbine to Title

With virtually the entire state rooting for them, and the memory of schoolmates killed in a massacre seven months ago spurring them on, the Rebels of Columbine High on Saturday won their school’s first state football championship, defeating Cherry Creek, 21-14, for the Colorado Class 5A title.

Rebel players wore No. 70 on their helmets and “MLK” in honor of fallen teammate Matt Kechter, gunned down April 20 in the worst high school massacre in U.S. history.

Chants of “We are Columbine” echoed from the stands after the Rebels had rallied from an early 14-point deficit to defeat perennial powerhouse Cherry Creek.

Those words had become the school’s unofficial motto since two gunmen opened fire in the Littleton, Colo., school, killing 12 fellow students, a teacher and then themselves.

“What we carried in our hearts, there aren’t words for,” Columbine Coach Andy Lowry said. “This is a game, and if we could bring those . . . kids back, I would trade everything in the world for that.”

Another player killed in the rampage, Isaiah Shoels, 18, would have graduated last spring.