Special night at Callaway

Published 11:59 pm Thursday, March 15, 2018

By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

Callaway’s soccer players were sporting a different look for Tuesday’s home games against Westlake, and it was for a good cause.

In past years, Callaway has hosted a cancer-awareness night where pink is the predominant color.

On Thursday, the colors of the night were blue and white as the Callaway soccer family turned its attention to ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

The players on both Callaway teams wore tops with blue and white stripes since those are the colors associated with ALS awareness.

Also, each of the Callaway jerseys had the name Lambert stitched onto the back of them.

Chris Lambert, father of Callaway soccer standout Grayson Lambert, has ALS, and before Thursdays’ boys’ game he served as an honorary captain.

During pre-game introductions, Chris Lambert stood alongside his son and the other Callaway players.

The gesture meant a lot to Grayson Lambert, who earlier in the week signed a letter of intent to play soccer at Emmanuel College.

“It humbles me so much that so many people care about my dad,” he said.

Grayson Lambert said to be able to share that moment with his father “meant the world to me.”

Chris Lambert is a big part of the Callaway soccer family, and not just because his son is a star player on the team.

He is also the president of the team’s booster club, and he has continued to be involved despite his illness.

“We wanted to make it about Chris, and about ALS,” Callaway head coach Mike Petite said. “He’s our booster-club president, and he does so much for us. So we were able to pull it together.”

The Napier family was also recognized before the game.

Bill Napier, the long-time football coach who died of ALS last year, is the father of Callaway offensive coordinator Matt Napier.

After the emotional pre-game ceremony, Callaway went out and fought Westlake to a scoreless tie.

While there were no goals, the game didn’t lack for action.

It was a fast-paced game, and both teams had plenty of scoring opportunities, but no balls ever found the back of the net.

Callaway goal keeper Josh Cooprider make some big-time saves to help keep Westlake from scoring.

“You had nice offense, really good defense,” Petite said. “You had big saves. You had everything you want, except for some goals.”

While Callaway was unable to put any goals on the scoreboard, Petite was happy with the effort against a team that plays in the state’s highest classification.

“That’s a AAAAAAA school, and that’s the kind of competition we want to play,” Petite said. “If we can run with them, we can do a lot down the road.”

It was a tough night for Callaway’s girls’ team.

Westlake led 4-0 at the half, and it kept adding on in the second half on the way to a 9-1 victory.

Kelly Carlisle scored Callaway’s lone goal in the second half.

“We had a couple of easy games, so it was good to have a game against a team like this,” Callaway head coach Shonna Yawn said. “They definitely know how to work the ball.”

Callaway’s teams will return to Region 5-AA competition on Wednesday with road games against Jordan.

Both Callaway teams are in second place in the region at 4-1.