Friday, November 17, 2006
Playing for Torie
Andrew Mitchell has gained a rep as a solid tailback for Lord Botetourt, but what he's lost makes it tough to enjoy.
varsity.roanoke.com
Timesland on Twitter
DALEVILLE -- When Lord Botetourt takes on Hidden Valley tonight in its first VHSL football playoff game in six years, workhorse tailback Andrew Mitchell will carry much of the load.
Mitchell has compiled a breakout senior season at Botetourt, highlighted by a 337-yard rushing night last month against Broadway and a 273-yard effort on 43 carries two weeks ago in a victory over Alleghany.
The 5-foot-9, 182-pound tailback rushed for 153 yards last Friday in a 17-14 victory at William Byrd that sent Botetourt to the postseason for the first time since 2000. Mitchell took handoffs on the Cavaliers' first 11 plays from scrimmage and finished with 26 attempts.
Carrying a football is nothing for Mitchell ... nothing compared to the burden the Botetourt teenager has been carrying since Aug. 22.
It was the day before the first day of school.
It was the day his life changed forever.
It was the day his girlfriend, 16-year-old Botetourt student and cheerleader Torie Phillips, was killed in an automobile accident.
Devastating news
Football practice that Tuesday was spirited as Botetourt and first-year head coach Tater Benson were preparing for an upcoming VHSL benefit scrimmage on Friday. Mitchell was headed home to soak up the remaining hours of summer sunshine.
First, he would call Torie.
"I left school around 5:30 and I called her like I always do," Mitchell said. "I called her after every practice. She didn't answer. My mom had called me and told me to come home as soon as possible. I called her and left her a voice mail just saying, 'I'm at Taco Bell. If you want anything. I can pick something up for you.'
"And then Coach Benson called and asked me if I could come back to the school. I just said, 'My mom sounded like she was upset,' so I had to get home as soon as possible."
Before Mitchell made it home, he was hit with the jarring news.
"One of my best friends called me and said his dad passed the wreck and told him he thought Torie was dead," he said. "I just immediately started crying. I was in shock."
Phillips was driving a 1998 Saturn when she ran off the right side of U.S. 11 in Cloverdale, went up an embankment, overcorrected and went into oncoming traffic, according to Virginia State Police. She was wearing a safety belt but died at the scene, police said.
The accident occurred minutes from the fast food restaurant where Mitchell had stopped.
"I can go to my house different ways," he said. "I took a right out of Taco Bell. If I had taken a left, I would have run right by it, so I didn't see it.
"When I got home, I went over to her house and talked to her parents. It was the worst day of my life."
A shared loss
Administrators and faculty at Botetourt had to cope with the tragedy on the first day of school. Grief counselors were provided to help students cope with the loss of Phillips, a popular student with an outgoing manner.
"Everyone loved her so much," Mitchell said. "She was just the happiest person you would ever meet. She was never mad about anything. She always had a smile on her face. She was just amazing."
Mitchell knew other Botetourt students felt the same way. While needing comfort, he said he tried to comfort others.
"Her best friend, Katie Thomas, that's who I cared most about," he said. "I knew she felt just as bad as I did. I had to be strong for everybody else, too. All my friends, they knew we had something special. They knew I was pretty heartbroken."
The two teenagers, who lived in the same neighborhood, had started dating each other six months before the accident.
"We had never talked really," Mitchell said. "We were in the same first period all year. She had always been dating some other guy. They broke up. She was beautiful. I just started talking to her. I don't know. We just fell in love.
"Every day we just focused on just having as much fun as we could. I don't regret anything that we ever did, because we always had a great time. I don't remember us ever fighting once."
Not even when Mitchell dragged Torie to a hip-hop concert in North Carolina to see rapper Talib Kweli.
"She went to that for me," he said. "She didn't like it much."
Torie had obtained her driver's license less than two months before the accident. Mitchell drives by the site of the wreck every day and somehow manages to look at the spot where it occurred.
"Every time I go through there, I think about it," he said. "They did have flowers but I think they were only there for a couple months. I guess they blew away."
Taping where it hurts
Coaching doesn't take place just on Friday nights. Benson, a longtime wrestling coach at Lord Botetourt before he got the football job last spring, knew what to do immediately after learning about the accident from a school resource officer.
"Our whole coaching staff went to his house that night," Benson said. "We told him to take as much time as he wanted. Football could take a back seat."
Somehow, Mitchell suited up and played in Botetourt's benefit game several hours after the funeral.
Every time he has put on his red and white jersey emblazoned with the number 9 since then, Mitchell has done so with a new purpose.
"Every game I tape my wrist and I put a 'T' and a 'P,' " he said. "I tape up my helmet. I wear a necklace I gave her. It's been motivation, completely. Before every play I just try to think about her and do what she would want me to do. It just motivates me to try so much harder."
Mitchell has been a huge part of Botetourt's recovery from a 1-4 start. A receiver in 2005, he has run for 1,267 yards and scored 14 touchdowns for the Cavaliers.
"It just started clicking after two or three games," Benson said. "He started reading his fullback's blocks. Early on, he made a couple of bad reads. These kids had never run an offense like this, a ground-oriented power running game. He was a receiver last year. I'd love to have him play tailback for five more years."
Lord Botetourt's final regular-season home game was Nov. 3, against Alleghany. He was joined on the field for the traditional pregame celebration by two sets of parents, his and Torie's, Paul and Malissa Phillips.
"They walked with me on Senior Night out on the field," Mitchell said. "They come to every game. We stay in touch quite a bit."
Paul Phillips said it has not been difficult to reach out to Mitchell, even during the family's extended mourning.
"He's just exceptional," Phillips said. "We can't say enough about him and the way he's been able to handle all of this. He's done everything you could expect a young man to do."
Looking for answers
Andrew Mitchell still wants to know why.
"I'm not really religious but I believe in God," Mitchell said. "I think God had to use her somehow. She was just too good to stay on Earth. That's what I think. She was put on Earth to help me and a lot of other people."
Mitchell isn't sure what his future holds. His father has been working in Cleveland and when he graduates in June, his mother might move to Ohio.
"I know I'm definitely going to college," he said. "I don't know if I'm going to play football. I don't know if I'm going to Ohio or if I'm going to stay in Virginia."
Paul Phillips says he already has noticed a change in Mitchell.
"He said Torie had brought him out of his shell," Phillips said. "He used to be a little bit shy."
Mitchell said there are times when he no longer feels like a teenager.
"I've definitely grown up a ton, faster than I would have liked to," he said. "But it's also made me stronger as a person."
Lord Botetourt is ensuring Torie's legacy. Assistant principal Tim Bane is spearheading a memorial scholarship that already has received $8,000 in donations, Paul Phillips said.
"We're going to start with two $1,000 scholarships the next couple of years," Phillips said. "What we'd like to do is establish a permanent memorial fund."
Still, Mitchell hopes he won't carry a permanent hurt.
"I'm OK, but I still think about it every minute almost. It's just something that doesn't leave my mind."
Why?
Will Mitchell ever find the answer?
" I think I will," he said. "Sometime in the future. I think so."
