Community celebrates touchdowns and triumphs of inclusion at annual turkey bowl – WTOV

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by Jaime Ely
Indian Creek's Unified Sports squared off against Big Red, matching students with disabilities alongside their peers.
WINTERSVILLE, Ohio — It's a game of inches and yards, but at Kettlewell Stadium on Wednesday morning, football became a game of yet another thing – unity and friendship as Steubenville High School and Indian Creek High School's Unified Sports teams gathered for their annual turkey bowl football game.
It looked like a packed playoff game, but this game meant so much more
Indian Creek's Unified Sports squared off against Big Red, matching students with disabilities alongside their peers.
"It just brings everybody together, and you saw it, you saw all the smiles,” Unified Sports Director Tom Mort said. “You saw how happy the Creek kids were for the Big Red kids, and the Big Red kids were for the Creek kids. It just brings us all together; it's a great day."
For Big Red, the sentiment was equally touching.
"I saw parents of one of my kids crying when he scored a touchdown,” Steubenville Assistant Athletic Director Ross Ivkovich said. “I thought to myself, 'You know, when that kid was a little kid the parents probably never thought they'd see something like that.' And just to get to see their son score a touchdown. And then, for him to come over to me and say, 'I scored! I'm playing next year and I’m playing the year after that' That's just special."
Players from both teams showed off their athletic prowess, including a huge touchdown run from Indian Creek student Misha Amis. For Misha, having the support of the community made the touchdown sweeter.
"That was fun,” Amis said. “I kind of liked scoring a touchdown, that's actually a good thing.
"What was going through my head was all the band, the girls, the majorettes, the fans, and all those people out there, they were just doing great. And I think the elementary just did the best one of all.”
But for representatives from the Ohio Special Olympics, who were there following Indian creek after national accolades, the game highlighted an even bigger ideal than winning or losing – inclusion.
"Inclusion is not a 4-letter word, it is the only word that really matters,” Kristi Peters, Unified Champions Schools – Special Olympics director, said. “If you saw what happened today, we are changing lives. We didn't just change a day, we didn't just change the week for these students, we change lives for students."
Ultimately, it was a game that went down to the wire, with Creek coming out on top, 32-24.
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