Calaveras High Senior With Cerebral Palsy Gets Big Moment In Football Rivalry Game

SAN ANDREAS (CBS13) — When Calaveras High School took on rival Bret Harte, the game ended with the touchdown of a lifetime for one player.

Kyle Chaboya is a captain for the varsity football team, even though he has spent most of his four years on the sidelines. The senior has cerebral palsy.

"I always dreamed as a kid stepping on that field," he said. "Doctors told my mom that I would never be able to walk, that I would be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of my life."

At the school's biggest rivalry game, though, Chaboya scored a touchdown for the very first time in his life, hand-in-hand with his longtime teammates.

Quarterback Dylan Byrd handed Chaboya the ball.

"I think it was emotional for all of us—the honor to give him the ball, to give him the feeling that we've been feeling for the last however long, and just to give him the opportunity to put the ball in the end zone," he said. "It was a good feeling."

Coaches for both teams secretly planned the whole thing and surprised Chaboya with the news just a few hours before the game.

"That moment to me was just amazing; stepping out there on the field with my best friends at my side helping me cross the pylon," he said. "I love this team. I couldn't ask for a better team to be on."

Everyone on the team agrees his inspirational role has helped them score plenty of touchdowns in the past.

"He makes us work harder and realize how lucky we are to have this game," Byrd said.

"It was amazing," coach Jason Weatherby said. "In 20 years of coaching and ten years of playing..there is no other touchdown more important."

Chaboya plans to to go to college next year where he hopes to join the football and wrestling teams.