Prosser vs. Quincy

‘Touchdown Karter’ scores big for Mustangs

October 22, 2011 by Ross Courtney

PROSSER, Wash. — His nickname is “Touchdown Karter” and he lived up to it Friday night.

Karter Childers, a Prosser High School senior with a 7-year-old’s intelligence level and prom king popularity, scored a touchdown on his one and only high school football play, elaborately staged by both the Mustangs and the visiting Quincy Jackrabbits.

On Prosser’s first offensive possession, Prosser quarterback Ryan Fassler tossed a lateral pass to Childers, 18, who ran it to the end zone. Teammates blocked. Tacklers missed. The crowd roared.

“I’m going to live my dream and enjoy being a pro,” he said. “I’m going to be a pro for 30 years.” The touchdown did not count. Referees, in on the scheme from the beginning, called the play back and gave the Mustangs a 5-yard penalty for having too few players on the line of scrimmage.

A small price to pay for giving Childers a memory that will last a lifetime, said Prosser coach Benji Sonnichsen, also a special education teacher at the school.

“There’s so much more you can teach out of the game, it’s not just about winning and losing,” said Sonnichsen, who all week has called Childers “Touchdown Karter” and the Mustangs’ “secret weapon.”

Staged touchdown plays for special needs players are becoming more common. Or at least, news of them is. YouTube has several clips of orchestrated heroics for players with autism, Down syndrome and other developmental problems.

Among them was a September 2010 game when Lake Stevens High School allowed Snohomish’s Ike Ditzenberger, a junior with Down syndrome, to scamper 51 yards for a touchdown that actually counted. Lake Stevens won the game 35-6 anyway. Ditzenberger and his coach later received the Seattle Children’s Inspirational Youth Award, presented by Olympic medalist Apollo Ohno.

In the end Friday, Prosser beat Quincy 38-7.

Quincy did not yield any true points during Childers dream run Friday, but the team did make sacrifices.

Prosser’s playoff berth is all but locked, but the Jacks are contending for a spot in the postseason. Still, they willingly gave their opponents an emotional lift and a few minutes to celebrate with Childers and his family.

Working from a diagram of the “Karter Play” provided to them by Sonnichsen, Quincy coaches led their defense through practice runs of feigned tackling attempts all week.

They were honored, said head coach Stephen Wallace.

“It’s one of those few things that are bigger than football and bigger than the game we are playing,” he said.

Childers has microcephaly, a condition of a small head and brain possibly caused by in utero viruses or genetics. He can’t tie his shoes, he can’t read and he can’t add.

His mother, Dolores Childers, said he most likely did not notice the missing six points from the scoreboard.

However, he tests high in social skills and it shows, said Prosser High School athletic director Casey Gant.

“Everybody knows him,” Gant said. “He’s always smiling.”

Dolores Childers said some people talk to her son for only a minute or two and not notice anything is wrong.

Childers is the middle child of five kids for Bill and Dolores Childers. He grew up wanting to play football just like his older brothers, Kurtis and Kenton, 2005 and 2007 graduates, respectively. He wears the same No. 42 that they did.

His sisters are junior twins Kolby and Klaire. In fact, it was Klaire who requested school administrators allow her older brother to play football his senior year.

They agreed, but his parents did not allow the young man to attend summer camp or travel to road games. Sonnichsen had not played his 5-foot-8, 100-pound senior in a real play all season for fear he would be hurt.

But each week, the Mustangs practiced the “Karter Play.” Each week, the hopeful player told Sonnichsen he was ready to score.

So Sonnichsen, administrators and the Quincy Jacks finally made it happen.

Dolores Childers knows little of her son’s future. He will walk with his class at graduation in the spring but probably continue to attend high school until age 21. After that, they may keep him home or consider allowing him to live in an assisted environment.

But photos of Friday’s celebration will hang on her refrigerator for years, right next to the ones of his older brothers.

“Us as parents, we’ve never told him he’s any different,” she said.