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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

If you mention the Thompson Warriors and Hoover Buccaneers in the same sentence to anyone in the state, chances are they’ll think about what divides them.

Much of those divisions stem from a bitter football rivalry that turned from a one-sided series to a back-and-forth clash of titans in 2017, including a legendary string of six-straight meetings in the Class 7A semifinals.

That sentiment has trickled down to other sports over the years as the Warriors and Bucs duked it out for area supremacy on the court, on the pitch and even on the diamond.

However, their latest meeting on the baseball diamond was marked by the polar opposite of hate and division: unity.

Before their game on Tuesday, March 4 at Thompson High School, Thompson and Hoover players stood with arms locked together in a circle, alternating between white Warriors and black Bucs jerseys while processing emotions that were anything but black and white.

Both teams had recently experienced something that no school wishes to endure: a death of one of their own. For Thompson, it was Caidyn Harrington, a former freshman team player who died at the age of 15 last Memorial Day weekend, and the Warriors organized the inaugural Caidyn Harrington Night to honor his memory and support his family.

But for Hoover, the game was very close to a date that they wish they could forget: March 6. That was the day in 2024 when Dash Barton, son of Bucs assistant coach Jason Barton, tragically died, and the one-year anniversary was just two days after Caidyn Harrington Night.

Thompson coach Frankie Perez was keenly aware of the close proximity between the two dates, and he asked Barton if his family wished to be included in the pregame ceremony because he had a feeling that they would need the support with the anniversary looming.

“I have three kids myself, and I can’t imagine and I don’t want to imagine and I hope God gives me the grace to never do it, is to lose a daughter or son, so knowing that this week is also going to be tough for Jason and Mrs. Barton and Atticus, Dash’s older brother, I wanted to honor them as well,” Perez said. “So, I was very respectful. I talked to Jason first and he said, ‘Absolutely. I would love to be added to the prayer.’”

What proceeded was one of the most touching displays of unity that I have ever seen in a game. Two teams inextricably linked by their divisions stood together in what united them: grief, and their support for the other program in their journey through it.

After the Harringtons were presented with a framed jersey with Caidyn’s No. 7, Westwood Baptist Church pastor Dr. Kenneth Bruce offered up a prayer for both the Harrington and Barton families.

While Caidyn’s father Jack had no idea that the Bartons would be included in the prayer, he fully supported sharing their moment with a family that they have shared the grief journey with as they met up after Perez connected the two fathers over the summer.

“We learned that they would be honoring the Barton family as well when he said it,” Jack said. “And believe me, (we) 100 percent support that. It doesn’t take away from Caidyn or Thompson at all. He should be honored as well.”

In a world that so often focuses on dividing others and pitting groups against one another, it’s always important to remember that we are all human beings navigating the same journey of life. We all have the same emotions and many of us have shared experiences.

Unfortunately, in this world, grief and loss are two feelings that are universal. If you haven’t experienced them yet, you will at some point. During those vulnerable moments, it’s crucially important to have a wide support system and something unshakeable to lean on.

The Alabaster community has been that and more for the Harringtons. Friends and family lined the stands at Thompson’s ballpark for the game the same way that they have lined up to offer support to the Harringtons through their words, actions and prayers.

On Tuesday, that support extended to their wider baseball family and the Hoover community as they stood united with the Harringtons in their grief.

“The love and support from the text messages, from the phone calls, from our pastors and church, from the youth pastor, just the overwhelming support and hugs and, ‘I love you’s,’ and text messages and thoughts and the Warrior Express, the Texaco, put Caidyn’s name on their marquee, and to have you guys come out, it just shows not only the great community that we live in but the family that we have here,” Jack said after the ceremony.

The prayer also showed the power of someone greater than them uniting them together. Both Perez and Hoover coach Adam Moseley are strong Christians and lead their respective programs with their faith front and center.

For two rival programs who are frequently among the best in Class 7A to stand together in open prayer, on a public school field nonetheless, is nothing short of inspiring and another reminder of how the power of Jesus can not only comfort the afflicted but bring together vastly different groups of people.

It not only echoed the faith that Caidyn had in God during his lifetime but the same faith that reassures his surviving family. It’s that Christian faith that his family hopes shines through the ceremony and their entire grief journey.

“His legacy, just like we’ve said all along, we want God to be honored, Caidyn to be remembered, and people to find hope in Christ,” Jack said. “If we can use his tragedy and our suffering to point somebody to Jesus, that’s absolutely what we’re going to do.”

The first two things were absolutely accomplished on Tuesday night in Alabaster. My hope is that the third will be as well. And that is something that I believe Thompson and Hoover can both get behind.