CAMP HILL, Pa. — This season, crossing the goal line on the ground is more than just six points for the Trinity Shamrocks.
Their touchdowns are serving a bigger purpose... helping supply funds for automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to local youth sports communities.
This is part of the Huddle for Hearts initiative started by Julie Walker of the Peyton Walker Foundation in Camp Hill.
“I reached out to Trinity and to Coach Hill and said, 'What do you think about this opportunity?'" recalled Walker. "He loved it and thought it was a great way to really focus on sudden cardiac arrest to raise awareness and get AEDs into the community."
The team learned about the opportunity at the beginning of the season and it was immediately welcomed with open arms. It's a chance to not only give back but also save lives in the process.
"The message for us was we [that] have to go get it now knowing that we aren't just playing for ourselves," said sophomore running back and Penn State commit Messiah Mickens. "We are playing for other people and if we can help with myself or one of my teammates scoring a rushing touchdown, we want to get it done."
Shamrocks Head Coach Jordan Hill says scoring anytime is nice but running the ball whenever he can is always on his mind
"We absolutely try and run the ball more, we have three to four good running backs right now so we try to feed them down at the goal line," said Hill. "At the end of the day, we know what it's going toward."
The Shamrocks currently have 14 rushing touchdowns on the season.