TURBOTVILLE, Northumberland County -- Cohen Zechman has been to seven Philadelphia Eagles games so far, but the most recent -- Sunday's visit to Washington D.C. to watch the birds take on the Redskins -- will likely be the one he remembers most.
Zechman, 10, was the lucky kid in the front row behind the end zone that Eagles wideout Nelson Agholor handed a football, moments after Agholor hauled in a touchdown pass from backup quarterback Nate Sudfeld.
“When I saw him coming over, my heart just stopped, like what is going on?" Zechman told WNEP-TV. "I was so amazed that I was getting an NFL football."
But the story had a twist.
Seconds after Zechman received the ball from Agholor, Sudfeld ran over to ask him a favor.
The touchdown pass was the first of Sudfeld's career, and he wanted the ball to remember it by.
So Sudfeld asked Zechman if he'd be willing to swap his ball for another one from the Eagles' sideline.
Zechman, a lifelong Eagles fan, acquiesced.
“The ball boy came over right away and gave me a new ball," Zechman said. "Later, I found out it was Nate's first career touchdown pass, so I wanted him to have it."
After the game, Agholor came over and signed the ball for Zechman, and two other Eagles players gave him their gloves.
The encounter made Zechman a bit of a celebrity. He appeared on-air during the FOX network's broadcast of the game, and was later interviewed by multiple newspapers and TV stations.
“We've been getting calls from news stations, radio stations. The Eagles actually reached out to us,” Zechman's father, Derrick, said.
“It's never happened to me before, and it's really neat to get to meet NFL players and getting balls and stuff,” Zechman said.
