Special pre-game ritual sets tone for Providence’s state champs

Members of the football team of Our Lady of Providence High School in Clarksville raise Indiana’s Class 1A state championship trophy in joy. (Photo courtesy of Jeff McKinley)

By John Shaughnessy

Head coach Daniel McDonald had a defining choice to make for the football team of Our Lady of Providence High School in Clarksville on the morning of Nov. 30.

In less than four hours, the team would be playing in Indiana’s Class 1A state championship game—an opportunity for Providence to win the first state championship in that sport in the school’s history.

Shortly after 7 on that morning, McDonald knew the team still needed to eat breakfast, still needed to travel to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis after spending the night in a Greenwood hotel, still needed to settle into the locker room and get into their pads and uniforms, and still needed to do a walk-through practice and get last-minute instructions before the game at 11 a.m.

Yet instead of heading straight to the stadium, McDonald had his team stop at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis where the administration had graciously opened its doors to the Providence team for the one pre-game ritual that their head coach wasn’t about to skip.

Mass.

“We put our Catholic faith at the forefront of our program,” McDonald would say later.

“I have a phrase for our program—‘For God, for country, for Providence.’ It’s important for me to remind our players that God gave us this ability to play football, and it’s our job to honor him by making the most of our talents and playing in a manner that befits our Catholic faith and glorifies God. So, starting off our pre-game ritual with Mass is really important to me. It centers our guys and reminds them why we are here.”

Hours later, in the early afternoon of that November day, Providence’s football team did make school history. With a 35-20 win over the team from North Judson High School, Providence completed its state championship season with 14 wins and no losses. And it did so in front of a huge, joyous crowd of friends, family members, teachers and fans who consistently live their school’s “Blue Pride” bond as a community badge of honor.

In the midst of that celebration, McDonald rushed to rejoice with his wife, Courtney, their 10-year-old son Landon, their 8-year-old son Cruz, and McDonald’s parents, Dennis and Nancy.

“That was emotional for me,” says McDonald, a member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in New Albany. “Soon as the game was over, I ran over and gave my family a hug. My wife and my kids sacrifice so much so that I can have the time to commit to Providence football, and that really meant a lot to me that I was able to celebrate that win with them.”

In his celebration with his assistant coaches and players, McDonald flashbacked to two memorable moments in the journey to the state championship.

The first one took him back to five years ago—when he was named the head coach, and he had his first meeting with the then-returning members of the team.

“When I took the job here, we had 14 players come to our first meeting. I met them right before COVID shut everything down,” McDonald recalls. “They probably thought I was crazy at the time, but I told them, ‘This program is on a collision course with the state championship, and the only variable is time.’

“So, for it to be five years later—and here we are, we won the whole thing—that was a full-circle moment. I reminded our guys of that and told them how proud I was of them.”

The second flashback returned him to a moment in January of this year.

“A lot of our seniors had to work in the afternoons, and they wanted me to come in at six o’clock in the morning to open up the weight room so they could lift,” McDonald recalls. “Those guys didn’t have to come in and lift, they wanted to. And they did that from January all the way until the end of school. My seniors never missed. I was very happy for my seniors that their hard work paid off.”

Their head coach also shared what he considers the defining qualities of the team’s eight seniors: Preston Kempf, Nick Stoner, Wyatt Small, Hudson Abel, Cooper Ross, Lucas Thomas, Griffin Tucker and Lukas Allgood.

“They’re relentless,” he says. “They’re hard workers. They’re gritty. All year long, they made plays when we needed them the most. They’re high-character individuals.

“They’re the kind of kids you know they’re going to be successful in life no matter what they do. They’re going to be great husbands. They’re going to be great fathers. And that’s really what I want our kids to take away from our program.”

McDonald has similar high praise for the Providence community.

“I learned from the get-go that Providence is a very tight-knit community. Very strong Catholic identity. And full of really good, hardworking, high-character people,” says McDonald, who also teaches physical education at the school. “This is a proud community that supports its students and supports the school. Our student section was packed at the game. I think we had over 2,000 people there. They made the two-hour trip to Indianapolis to support our football team.”

The support continued later that afternoon in Clarksville as the police and fire departments greeted the 47 teammates and their coaches at the edge of town and gave them an escort to the school for another celebration.

“A lot of the parents and fans filled up the gym, and we presented the state trophy to them,” McDonald says.

The head coach took a deep breath before continuing, “I’m extremely blessed and honored to be the head football coach at Providence. To establish ourselves as state champions, it’s amazing for the program and the community.

“They made history as the greatest team in Providence football.” †