Colorado brothers face off for NCAA Division II football national championship
Jackson and Grayson Lewis both played football at Windsor High School and now they both play in college but for different teams. This weekend those teams will play for a national championship when the Mines play Harding in McKinney, Texas.
When Grayson signed up to play football at Harding he was part of a tradition of Lewis men that played in college.
His dad, Jobe, played at New Mexico State University and his brother, who played with him most of his life, is a player at Colorado School of Mines.
It led to a lot of jokes about the brothers playing against each other because Harding and Mines are both Division II programs.
"We've made jokes about. Wouldn't it be funny," said their mom, Lindsey. "We would just laugh and say, oh, that's so farfetched, knowing that that would most likely only end up in the National Championship. Maybe a semifinal game, but only at the very end of the season."
Well, it wasn't so farfetched after all. On Saturday, Harding and the Mines are set to face off. The winner will be national champions, which makes things tough for Jobe and his wife Lindsey who have a son on each squad.
They have been following both programs all year and have become attached to both. They are going to go to the game on Saturday but don't know who they will be cheering for or even what section they will sit in.
"I don't know how that's going to work because, yeah, I've been to both places this year multiple times and it's fun to cheer for those teams. It's going to be hard on Saturday," said Jobe.
They say their boys are competitive but friendly in the week leading up to the showdown even if Jackson is doing what older brothers do best and trying to get under Grayson's skin.
"The older brother is definitely playing the trash talking game," said Jobe.
Jobe and Lindsey say they will be there for both of their sons win or lose. Jackson is a sophomore and Grayson is a freshman so they both have a lot of playing left and the Lewis' say they hope this intra-family rivalry becomes a yearly tradition.
"We're hoping that this isn't the last time this happens," said Jobe.
Both boys are actually red shirted so neither is playing right now, but they will be at the game. Jobe and Lindsey say they think it's going to be a very close game.
