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Alcona, Sytek share special moment in final home game

LINCOLN-For the past four years, Tyler Sytek has meant a great deal to the Alcona football team, always ready to contribute to the team in any way he can.

On Friday, the Tigers got to show Sytek just how much he means to them.

During the second half of a blowout win against Mio, coach Jason Somers called on Sytek to run in a two-point conversion. Sytek took the ensuing handoff and dashed into the end zone.

“It meant everything. I haven’t been able to play a lot and doing that was great,” Sytek said.

Sytek, a team manager, has been a regular at Alcona practices, team functions and games for the past four years, but until Friday he had never played in a game. Sytek was born 24 weeks premature and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The diagnosis has given him many aliments over the years and he is also considered legally blind.

In spite of all that, Sytek has never complained and participates in practices with the Tigers, running 40-yard sprints and stretching with the team. Short of being tackled, Sytek does a little of everything and practices are often a good way for him to get in some physical therapy as he wears braces on both feet.

“He’s meant a great deal (to us). He brings a unique character. Sometimes when things get too serious, he reminds us that it’s just a football game,” Somers said. “Just a few days ago I was working on a drill with a couple guys and he’s running 40-yard sprints in practice. The kids were wondering why and I said, ‘He’s been a part of this team and he’s committed to this team like you wouldn’t believe.”

Needing a win to secure Alcona’s second playoff berth in three years, Somers hadn’t given thought to putting Sytek in against Mio. But by halftime, Alcona was rolling 64-0 and a golden opportunity presented itself.

Somers spoke with the referee and a line judge during the third quarter and Somers said the line judge told him he needed to find a way to get Sytek in. Somers also conferred Alcona Athletic Director Dan O’Connor, Sytek’s father Steve and Mio coach Jim Gendernalik, who agreed to help the plan come to fruition. It was a situation the Thunderbolts were familiar having had of their own in Sytek’s situation a few years ago.

When Sytek’s big moment came, all of Alcona’s seniors ran out on to the field, having told Somers that whether they’d been called on or not, they wanted to be a part of it.

Somers pulled Sytek aside for some last-minute advice and sent him out onto the field.

“He said, ‘Don’t drop it,'” Sytek said. “We ran that play a couple of times in practice and I dropped it, so he told me not to drop it.”

Sytek didn’t drop it and instead took a handoff and cut inside to the left around the tackles to score the two-point conversion, which gave Alcona a 80-0 lead. Sytek’s conversion capped a night of high-scoring for the Tigers and ignited an eruption of cheers from the Alcona crowd.

After being congratulated by his teammates, Sytek ran to the sideline and shared a long embrace with his father.

“These football players are amazing. They’ve taken him under their wing and Tyler loves those guys,” Steve Sytek said.

Sytek’s moment was captured on video by local fan Jacqueleene Walker. After being shared on various Facebook pages, the video found its way to ESPN.com and was featured there on Saturday.

“I thought that was pretty cool,” Sytek said.

Alcona drew a matchup with Saginaw Nouvel for the first round of the playoffs this week and with at least one more week to go in the season, Sytek will have another chance to be with his teammates and soak in the football atmosphere he loves so much.

But he and his teammates nor Alcona’s fans will soon forget Sytek’s big moment on the gridiron.

“All the things we’ve had to do with Tyler, all the surgeries and doctor’s trips and schooling, to see all that come together in his senior year in one play is a dream,” Steve Sytek said.

James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.

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