LAWTON, Mich. — The Lawton Blue Devils will be playing in their first football state championship in school history on Saturday. For a set of twins on the team, though, making it all the way to Ford Field is about more than the game itself — it's about making their grandpa proud in the process.
“I know that I’m just going to have the biggest goosebumps of my life just walking out of that tunnel," Drew Stephayn said with a smile on his face.
Drew and his twin, Evan, can hardly find the right words to describe their excitement for Saturday.
Evan told FOX 17, “It’s just such a special moment that every high school player dreams of.”
The twin brothers are leaders on Lawton's offensive line, lifting the Blue Devils to the second-highest scoring offense in the state this season (646 points).
That's helped open up a lane for Lawton to run straight to the Division Seven state championship game Saturday morning at Ford Field, not losing a single game along the way.
“It’s really just going to be an incredible feeling to be with my brothers, really," Drew said.
From sharing the womb to sharing the field, doing it with your twin makes it even more special.
“It just is like having a brother on steroids, in reality," Evan said. "The love you have for him is almost as much as the love you have for yourself.”
The Blue Devil blood runs deep in the Stephayn family. The twin brothers are fourth-generation Lawton legends.
“So my dad, my grandpa and my great-grandpa has all gone here," Drew said.
So you can imagine their excitement to help lead the Blue Devils to their first title game in school history.
However, the Stephayn twins have been to Ford Field before. In fact, they've been there for the state finals every year since they were four years old. Instead of being on the field, though, they were in the stands.
“Drew and I have in the past gone with my dad and my grandpa," Evan said. "Realizing that you’re going is just such an exciting, surreal feeling.”
The feeling will be missing a major piece this time around. When Drew and Evan look up in the stands on Saturday, their grandpa might not be there. He suffers from Lewy body dementia and will likely have to stay home.
“He’s struggling at some times," Drew said. "I know that we might be able to do this for him, and Evan and I can really win something that’s never been done here, and we can kind of do it for my grandpa.”
When they get back from Detroit, the twins say they plan on driving straight to their grandpa's house, to share the moment together and hopefully celebrate a win as well.
“There’s been family members that say he’s kind of living for us right now," Evan said. "Not to sound like, thinking in the future, but it would be a great way to send him off. I know there’s a place for him up above, so it’s just a great feeling that we’re doing this for him right now.”
The Lawton Blue Devils (13–0) will face the Pewamo-Westphalia Pirates (13–0) at 10 a.m. Saturday. FOX 17 will be there to cover the game, and will have highlights later that night.
