Wilkinsburg football players stay on field despite life challenges

Every game is long shot.

Every game is against the odds, stacked against the Wilkinsburg Tigers football team.

There are 16 players facing off against teams with 30 or more on their roster, but that doesn’t faze junior Xavier Reed.

“It’s nothing to me because in our neighborhood, we deal with more problems than outside football,” he said. “I feel safe when I play. I feel no one can come on the field and shoot me, so I just play football to get out of what’s going on out there.“

Channel 11's Lisa Sylvester followed the team the entire season.

She learned that three of the players are homeless in a community struggling with violence and poverty.

“Some of us struggle. We get team outfits, socks. Our coaches take care of us, give us food. You never know. Sometimes some of us don’t eat. We are like a family,” Reed said.

On the first day of practice, a third of the team was not there because they were attending the funeral of a friend who had been shot and killed.

“Every day we’re hearing sirens during our practices but it doesn’t bother us. Our focus is on the field,” said player Stephon Burr.

Up until a few years, there was a revolving door of coaches who stayed for only a year.

Coach Mike Fulmore is now in his fifth season, building a team and instilling hope in a community.

He said his team reminds him of David and Goliath with their determination.

“David doesn’t always win. These guys believe they can. I’m not going to tell them any different,” he said. “We talked about that it’s not in the goals, it’s in the journey to get to our goals.

The Tigers finished the season 1-8, but some successes can't be measured by a scoreboard.

*Special thanks to Trib columnist Kevin Gorman, who wrote the original article that inspired our story. Read it here.

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