Gage Smith, right, asked Ty Jordan if they could pray after their game Friday because Smith knew Jordan's mom was battling cancer. Jordan's aunt posted the photos on Twitter and Facebook. They were sent to Jordan's family from Smith's coach.

The story line of Sherman’s 56-27 victory over West Mesquite on Friday night was a three-way tie for playoffs. Sherman, West Mesquite and Texas High are all tied for the final playoff spot, with John Tyler in third as they travel to Sherman on Friday night.

Until two days ago when everything changed and no one cared about the score, who made the big plays or who will make the playoffs.

West Mesquite’s star running back and wide receiver Ty Jordan was about to leave the field. It was a loss and the senior is one of the best in the country, heading to Texas next year. He made national headlines on Sept. 15 when he announced his intention to continue his football career as a Longhorn.

But there is something private that Gage Smith of Sherman High knew.

West Mesquite and Sherman are football rivals separated by 70 miles, but Smith knew Jordan’s mother was in a fight with cancer. He waited until the handshakes were over and most everyone left the field so in a private moment he could ask the opposing player if they could take a moment to pray for Jordan’s mother.

The moment was captured with a cellphone and sent to Jordan’s family. His aunt, Takka Jordan, tweeted, “I was sent these pics last night and was going to make a long post but I’m gonna keep it short. Be careful how you treat people because you just might be entertaining an angel!! #GageSmith thanks for praying and speaking LIFE into my nephew, Ty Jordan, you are blessed & amazing.”

The post was also on Facebook where it had 159,000 shares, 112,000 likes and 7,000 comments, mostly from strangers complimenting the student athletes and Smith specifically.

Smith responded with a polite thank you each time on Twitter to Takka Jordan and other well-wishers.

On Facebook, Takka Jordan posted, “So this happened after the game. Gage Smith #2, Sherman High, told Ty I heard about your mother I’m sorry and I wanna pray with you. This melts my heart.”

Reporter Braylee McCoy of KXII News 12 in Sherman interviewed Smith, who said, “When you’re playing the game, you’re playing to win and the other team is the enemy, but afterwards you still have respect for the other opponent.”

He told the station he played with Ty Jordan on a 7-on-7 team in the summer. Both are outstanding football players.

“I just had a moment with him praying over him, his mom and his family,” Smith told KXII News 12. “To see that it blew up I was very surprised by it, and I wasn’t expecting it to be like that, you know, I was just doing it for him and doing it for his mom and his family … Football brings people together in so many different ways, and that was just one example of it that night.”

The post went viral and the story was picked up by other stations across the country.

J.D. Martinez said his wife took the photos, including the now famous one of the boys kneeling and praying. He told the TV station of Smith, “It’s pretty special that kind of everybody gets to see really what he is, he’s that type of kid all the time, it’s just not in front of the cameras or anything like that, he’s like that every day.”