With no game to play in Week 1 because of Hurricane Irma, the Miami Dolphins used some extra time to help out a fellow South Florida team cope with the extraordinary weather.
Miami's Central High School football team was essentially stranded in Las Vegas after a 24-20 win Friday night, with their travel plans ruined due to the hurricane and without enough money to re-plan. Dolphins players, who were practicing in California, heard of Central's struggles and decided to pay for all lodging and transportation costs for the 69-person team.
"I'm ecstatic because anytime you see an organization like the Dolphins think about and take care of a high school team like ourselves, that's amazing," said Central coach Roland Smith, according to Miami Herald's Armando Salguero.
Due to an inability to book the entire party onto one flight, some members of the team will be put up in Las Vegas until Friday, flying out in smaller groups until everyone has returned to South Florida.
"We don't have a budget like the Dolphins," Smith said. "We don't have a budget like a college. We don’t have a national budget to stay extra days after a game and stuff like that."
Receivers Kenny Stills and Jarvis Landry, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, safety Reshad Jones, and linebacker Lawrence Timmons are among those contributing to help the Central High Rockets, who knocked off three-time defending national champion Bishop Gorman. Despite being one of the top-ranked teams in the country, Central does not have the resources that some of their competition does.
"We don’t have big booster clubs like other schools have that can take care of things like this," Smith said. "But when you have an organization the kids look up to and they step forward, it's an awesome thing."
