POCA, W.Va. (WCHS) — It's Friday night, and that means one thing in West Virginia; high school football. Poca hosts Winfield for this week's Friday Night Rivals game of the week and sometimes the story goes beyond the highlights.

The Poca Dots have been playing well, here recently. They get their strength from a teammate who died too young. Keagan Gross is the Dots' angel on the gridiron.

Last fall on Friday Night Football Extra, Kennie Bass made the highlight call when Poca took on Mingo Central. "Dots looking for that first win. Mingo is punting the ball but it's blocked Keagan Gross pounces on top of it and puts the Dots in pretty good field position."

Keagan Gross had a bright future with the Poca Dots football team. He played special teams on varsity as a freshman. He blocked two punts in a game against Mingo Central during the 2022 season.

"His smile was so contagious; he was so fearless. He was a tough fearless kid," Poca Head Football Coach Seth Ramsey said.

Keagan's bright future was unfortunately cut short by epithelioid sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that starts as a growth of cells in the soft tissue. Keagan died this past June, two days after his fifteenth birthday.

"Can't talk about it really but I was sitting there praying for him, hoping he'd get through it," Poca senior offensive and defensive lineman Mitchell Hinrichs said. "He kept fighting, just praying."

"No matter what anybody says, there is nothing that can prepare you for that," Ramsey said. "There's no words you can say that can make anybody feel better about or feel good about. It's something we've had to really lean on each other, something we've had to get through together."

"It's really hard on the team and we just got to stay close together and these guys back here are my brothers, and they always will be, so will Keagan," Poca junior offensive and defensive lineman Jacob Paul said.

A school, a town, a team, a family, devastated. They now needed to lean on each other.

"It's made our whole team closer, want to be together all the time, make sure everybody is ok," Poca junior running backPreston Bonnett said.

"He left a legacy behind," Ramsey said. "He left a legacy of toughness, he left a legacy of how to endure and how to overcome and how to battle and how to fight and if we can live up to half the legacy he left, we're going to be pretty good. And obviously we miss him dearly but we're thankful for that blessed assurance that we'll be able to see him again in heaven."

The Dots didn't want to go into the season without their brother, so the players took action. Decals of Keagan's number were placed on every player's helmet, his number painted on the field.

"I still wanted to make sure everybody still remembers him and don't forget the message he left with everybody,"Hinrichs said.

What was that message?

"To keep fighting."

"How big of a heart that kid had," Paul added. "I've known him since I was eight and he was just a great teammate I always had, and I miss him a lot."

"I think he's going to stay with us through everybody's lives and tell us to keep going even when stuff is hard,"Hinrichs said.

"No matter what, no matter what happens, Keagan will always be here with us and that's why we have his number out on the field and everything and long live Keagan Gross," Paul said.

The players didn't stop there. They needed him on the sideline with them so every game you'll find Keagan's uniform on the bench.

"Kind of gets me through the game and everything because during the games I used to talk to him and everything on the sidelines and it's very difficult not being able to get to do that so whenever I see that it just give me some reassurance," Paul said.

"It reminds me of him and makes me want to play harder for him and makes us feel like he's still here with us," Bonnett added.

"Every time we go out on Fridays, even in practice, I still feel he's here with us," Paul said.

The Dots are 3-3 on the season, already surpassing last season's win total. The Dots believe Keagan's grit and spirit has been with them. They play for number 24.

"It just makes us think we can do anything we put our mind to because he was fighting it as hard as he could," Bonnett said.