Lausanne Collegiate poses after taking the 2017 state title. The Lynx are the national leaders for raising money in the MaxPreps Touchdowns Against Cancer campaign for St. Jude Hospital.
File photo by Jason Goode
The prolific
Lausanne Collegiate (Memphis, Tenn.) football team has put up some remarkable numbers while winning 28 straight games and two consecutive Tennessee Division II titles.
The Lynx have outscored opponents by a staggering 1,157-336 count in those 28 games, or an average score of 41-12. They averaged 424 yards of offense last season and opened 2018 by racking up 457 yards in a 47-14 win over Rosa Fort.
But the most amazing number Lausanne has put up thus far is 9,642. That's the national-leading dollar amount it has raised as of Aug. 27 for The Touchdowns Against Cancer Campaign, which benefits cancer research for St. Jude Hospital.
In its third season, the MaxPreps sponsored drive powered by Pledge It allows football teams throughout the country to raise awareness and money for childhood cancer by scoring touchdowns during a three-week span starting the first week of September.
Eric Gray is the most prolific single-season touchdown maker in state history. Now's he's trying to break records in raising money for pediatric cancer.
File photo by Jason Goode
What makes Lausanne's total so amazing is that it is more than quadrupled the second-most pledged team to this point, the Olmsted Falls (Ohio) Bulldogs, who has raised $1,780.
Only four teams in the country have raised $1,000 — it's still early — so to say Lausanne is crushing it, is an understatement.
The reason for the prolific numbers are largely due to a couple of senior players,
Isaac Weiss and
Eric Gray.
Eric Gray hoisted by teammate.
File photo by Jason Goode
According to the
school's website, both dedicated their seasons to raising money for the research hospital.
"Cancer has touched all of our lives in some way, and I want to make each point that I score count toward something bigger than a win," Weiss said. "St. Jude is an incredible, world-class institution in Memphis that treats families with the latest cancer therapies regardless of their ability to pay."
Both seniors are doing it as part of a "CAS" project, which is part of a diploma program.
A two-year undertaking, CAS stands for Creativity, Activity and Service, and through CAS, students practice and reflect on their interests and their potential contributions to the communities to which they belong.
"For the CAS project, you try to find an area that you can use your talents to help others," Gray said. "When Isaac told me about Pledge It, I knew it was a way that I could use my love of football to benefit the awesome work happening at St. Jude."
Each has set goals to raise $10,000.
Weiss, the starting kicker on the team, asks for supporters to make a gift to St. Jude for every point he kicks through the uprights.
Gray, the team's main running back, asks for a donation to be made for every touchdown he scores. He's predicting to score 50 touchdowns this season, breaking the record he set last year when he made 49 touchdowns and set a Shelby County single-season record.
Gray needs 31 rushing touchdowns to break the state career record of 114.
Eric Gray and his Lausanne Collegiate off to the races again toward another touchdown.
File photo by Jason Goode
