Although they were opponents on the field Tuesday night, the Spencer County and DeSales boys’ soccer teams had one common goal.
Pay tribute to a fallen member of each program. That was the why for two Louisville high school clubs.
Desales soccer coach Lee Smith died in late January of this year. Coach Smith was a pillar in the soccer community and at Desales. For Spencer County, the program lost senior Nathan Wimsatt back in May as a result of a motor vehicle accident. Nathan Wimsatt’s presence on and off the field shaped the program at Spencer County.
Spencer County coach Chris Barron knew that it was only fitting for both programs to come together and honor Lee and Nathan. Instead of charging admission for the match, donations were taken for the family of Lee and the Nathan Wimsatt Scholarship Fund that aims to help Spencer County seniors in their education.
Before the match, The Smith Family and the family of Nathan came together in midfield for a moment of silence for 23 seconds- matching Wimsatt’s jersey number which was also retired by Spencer County.
”On both sides we raised a pretty good amount of money,” Barron said. “It was a big crowd and energetic. “Tonight was not about soccer whatsoever.”
Spencer County won the match 1-0 behind a free kick from senior goalkeeper Tommy Childress. It was an emotional night for Childress, who remembered the good times he enjoyed with Wimsatt.
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“Very emotional between both teams,” Childress said. “They (Desales) had a tough loss and we had a tough loss of people who are dearly loved in the community.” “It was a great game played start to finish with no bad attitudes.
Childress said he and Wimsatt were teammates before their Spencer County days.
“I loved playing with Nathan,” Childress said. “I played with Nathan since the sixth grade. I was really tight with him. Dairy Queen trips after practices and games he was such a joy to be around.”
Although DeSales came away with a defeat, first-year coach Ryan Glynn was thankful to have both sides come together.
“I thought Spencer County did a great job of honoring both people who were taken from their communities too early,” Glynn said. “It was really cool to see this game on the first night and had a pretty big crowd out. It was a solemn moment where we all were just able to kind of take a breath in and remember the lives of two men that loved soccer.”
Donations for the Nathan Lane Wimsatt Scholarship Fund can be accepted through GoFundme
Original article by Chris Mattingly
