MOUNT DORA, Fla.---
Inside the Mount Dora Christian Academy locker room you’ll find plenty of inspiring messages written on the walls. “Trust the process it says,” as you walk in. “One team, one goal, one God" is written prominently in the middle of the room. It’s a phrase head coach Steven Hayes uses in his pre-game speech.
“Do what we do, this is the last…I don’t know what you want to call it, pre-game run before the playoffs. It all starts on Tuesday,” Hayes says. He’s calm on the outside, one can only imagine what’s feeling within.
“One team, one goal, one God, selfless trust,” Hayes says as the team huddles together before going out to the court for warm ups.
It’s senior night for Steven Hayes Bulldogs. His team is 24-0 and looking to complete a perfect regular season if they can beat Lake Mary Prep.
“It’s honestly as cheesy as it sounds been like a movie,” senior forward Jack Webster said before the game.
Webster is one of eight seniors to be honored in a pre-game ceremony. Everyone’s here except one, Nathan Hayes, the coaches son.
“Our next senior can’t be here tonight but I’d like to read a poem in his honor,” athletic director Megan Ziegelhofer reads into the microphone. Hayes sits with his wife ready to greet each of his seniors. As the poem continues, the emotion overwhelms his face.
Ziegelhofer takes a breath to compose herself.
“In our hearts we thought of you today but that is nothing new. We thought about you yesterday and the days before that too. We think of you in silence we often speak your name. Now all we have are memories and a picture in a frame,” she finishes.
“I’ve dreaded this day in a lot of ways because I knew how emotional it would be,” Steven Hayes said. “Me and my son always talked about how we couldn’t wait for me to coach him one day. And this was his time.”
Nathan Hayes loved basketball. His favorite team was the Boston Celtics which is why this normally blue team is wearing green. Green balloons hang around the gym. Nathan is featured among the eight senior pictures that panel the padding underneath the basket.
“Big Celtics fan,” Hayes said. “If they played at 10:00 at night he’d beg to stay up and watch them and cheer them on.”
During the game you wouldn’t know the weight Hayes has been carrying. He pours everything into his team.
“Jumbo, jumbo, hard now now now!” he yells from the sideline. Nathan loved to cheer for his favorite team, but he also loved to help his Dad coach.
“He was my manager when he was 8-9-10 years old,” Hayes said. “He lived and died by how we played that night. He cheered on us, when we lost he cried. When we won he celebrated.”
They were always together in life. They were also together in Nathan’s final moments.
It was a rainy September night in 2011. Steven and Nathan were driving north on CR-44A in Eustis near West Eldorado Drive. They came around a curve and saw a tree lying in the middle of the road.
“Luckily I was going slow. Hit the tree, got us out of the car, put him on the side where I thought he was the safest,” Hayes remembered. “Went to turn the car off and a car came from the other direction, swerved and missed me and hit him. And after that I really don’t remember a whole lot honestly.”
Nathan was 10 then. A cross remains at the scene of the accident now. The team swears they’ve felt his presence.
“He kind of guided us,” Webster said. “Not only just tonight but this whole season. The miraculous wins that we barely pulled out.”
On senior night it was like Nathan was leading them to 25-0.
“I feel like God and Nathan were looking down on us helping us,” junior guard Rodney Brant said.
“Felt like we were playing for something bigger than ourselves,” senior forward Jabril Ndiaye said. “And I think when you do that I think the skies the limit at that point.”
The Bulldogs turned a 6 point half time lead into an 80-57 victory. As the buzzer hit zero, Hayes and the team held up a two in one hand and five in the other signaling their 25-0 record.
“I’m very proud of ya’ll,” Hayes said to his team as they huddle up after shaking hands with Lake Mary Prep. “I don’t care what anyone says 25-0 is not normal. Alright now we’ve got bigger fish to fry. It’s one game at a time. But I want ya’ll to realize how much I love you guys.”
Steven Hayes lost a son, but he’s gained countless others.
“I learned something when everything happened to us. I’m one that now I let people know how I feel,” Hayes said. “When these guys leave the gym at night I tell them I love them. And I mean I love them.”