Got to watch ‘The Miracle Season’ movie once more last weekend

For the second time within just a couple months, BYU TV aired on Saturday night “The Miracle Season,” which is based on a true, but tragic, story.

The 2018 sports drama film is based upon Iowa City (Iowa) High School volleyball team after player Caroline Found, who in the movie is played by Danika Yarosh (who is best known for playing Samantha Dutton in “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” [2016] and Brooke Osmond in “Greenhouse Academy”), was killed in a moped accident just before the 2011 season was to begin — and the team was prepped to repeat as state champions.

Then, the movie’s focus shifts to how the team responds without its captain, Found’s best friend and teammate Kelley Fliehler (played by Erin Moriarty, currently portraying Annie January on “The Boys” on Amazon Prime Video), team coach Kathy “Brez” Bresnahan (played by Helen Hunt) and Found’s dad, local surgeon Ernie Found (played by William Hurt).

Dr. Found not only is devastated by his daughter’s death, but also his wife Ellyn — who succumbs to pancreatic cancer just days after attending her daughter’s wake.

“Brez” continues to hold practice, asking Fliehler to return to the team — telling Found’s best friend that “Line,” Found’s nickname, would have wanted her teammates to continue. The Trojans, or as they’re called throughout the film, “The Women of Troy,” lose their first match by forfeit, but Fliehler encourages the entire school to continue for “Line.”

Eventually, Fliehler is asked by “Brez” to become the team’s captain, in which Found’s best friend struggles in that role but steadily improves.

After the team loses badly to City High in its first game without Found, the team begins to start winning, and ends the regular season with 14 straight wins to qualify for state.

Before the tournament begins, Dr. Found gives Fliehler a gift that encourages her not to just play for “Line,” but to “Live Like Line” — which essentially turns into the team’s motto for the state tournament, which the Trojans win with a five-set, come-from-behind victory against the same City High team who handled them about a month before and was the favorite to win state. T-shirts were made with the motto on them for the players and fans to wear at the state tournament. Fliehler and her boyfriend went one morning before the state tournament and painted the motto on the high school building.

Fliehler also would bring Found’s volleyball shoes in which “Line” wrote on the left shoe “Ellyn Found” and “Fight 4 Momma” on the other. Fliehler would set Found shoes under her seat on the bench.

During the closing credits, images, video and footage show the real-life Caroline Found and her family, Kelley Fliehler, “Brez” and the Trojans.

It is a very sad story, but also one of encouragement on how a team, family and community respond to the death of a teammate.

If you have not seen “The Miracle Season,” I highly encourage you all to do so. I wouldn’t be surprised if BYU TV airs it once more — likely on a Saturday night.

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Team USA just did avoid an upset Wednesday night, and in some ways it still may be looked at as an upset, in the 2023 Women’s World Cup. The United States women’s soccer team had to score a goal in the second half by Lindsey Horan in the 62nd minute to earn a 1-all tie with The Netherlands, which scored the game’s first goal by Jill Roord in the 17th minute of the first half to take a 1-0 lead. The halftime deficit was the first for the U.S. since 2011.

The Americans likely need to defeat Portugal on Tuesday morning our time to safely secure a spot in the next round.

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The 2023 Lions Club Rodeo special section is in today’s edition, with the event taking place next Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This was my first special section that I got to be a part of as your sports editor.

My first creation as your sports editor will publish Aug. 11 — the 2023 season-preview special section on the fastpitch softball and cross country teams. As I said in last week’s column, this was something I felt was needed, since these were the only sports that never have had a special section publish about them, so I hope you all will enjoy it.

On Monday, I went to Webbers Falls’ cross country photograph shoot and Gore’s softball photograph shoot. I have scheduled Gans’ softball photograph shoot for Tuesday morning and Webbers Falls’ softball photograph shoot for next Friday morning.

We need to schedule photograph shoots for the remaining softball and cross country teams by Aug. 4 — however, I have been advised I could do them on Saturday, Aug. 5 or Monday, Aug. 7. I’ve been working with the coaches to make this happen.

David Seeley is sports editor at Your TIMES. He can be reached by telephone at (918) 775-4433, Ext. 139 or by e-mail at davids@cookson.news.