BAKERSFIELD, CA - A local high school is keeping the competition on the football field and stepping up to help the coach of the opposing team. Liberty took on Fresno-Central Friday night, but off the field -- the two schools came together to help a football coach who overcame cancer. <\/p>\n
The patriots and central grizzlies have a history. <\/p>\n
Liberty High School athletic director Tim Davis said, \"Since 2010, we've met them in the playoffs won some, lost some. We had one of our biggest wins back in 2010 in playoffs.\" <\/p>\n
While that competition is sure to continue -- off the field, the focus is on finding a bone marrow donor for central coach Justin Garza. <\/p>\n
\"It's bigger than the game. Football is big for tonight, but in the big picture, your health and somebody else's family and the struggles of it. It just brings that to the forefront,\" said Davis. <\/p>\n
Coach Garza was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2010. He's now in remission and in need of a bone marrow transplant. <\/p>\n
Nearly two dozen Central Valley high schools have joined in coach Garza's search, holding marrow drives, signing up an estimated one thousand people to the national registry. <\/p>\n
Garza said, \"It's, I can't even use words to describe how it makes me feel personally.\" <\/p>\n
Now Liberty High is joining in the effort to find a match for coach Garza. <\/p>\n
Davis said, \"A couple of my coaches confronted me a couple weeks ago about this coach and they have known him and some of these registries they were doing to get bone marrow for Justin Garza.\" <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Read the rest here:<\/p>\n
Liberty High holds bone marrow drive for Fresno football coach<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BAKERSFIELD, CA - A local high school is keeping the competition on the football field and stepping up to help the coach of the opposing team. Liberty took on Fresno-Central Friday night, but off the field -- the two schools came together to help a football coach who overcame cancer. Continue reading