KATY, Texas — At this stage of the Texas high school football season, teams know that each game could be their last.
It's something that's been on the mind of Georgetown senior running back Devin Ross for quite some time.
Ross and the rest of his teammates were in Katy on Friday night for a second-round playoff matchup with Fort Bend Hightower.
Devin's father, David Ross, was there as well. David Ross has only missed two of his son's games in his four years at Georgetown, but Friday night was especially emotional.
"I just thank God that I'm here tonight to be able to watch him play this senior game," David Ross said.
It was a senior season that David Ross didn't know he'd get to watch after a life-changing diagnosis in 2016.
"We didn't really talk about it then because we were in a very early stage, and it wasn't something that was really traumatic at the time in terms of being at a Stage IV-level cancer," David Ross told KVUE.
David Ross, 59, is battling both kidney and prostate cancer. In fact, he was at a hospital in Houston earlier in the day getting treatment.
"I was a 280-pound guy, now I'm down to 180 pounds," David Ross said.
Yet, he's found the strength not just to survive but to support his son.
"Every now and then, you get knocked down, but you have to keep getting back up," David Ross said. "That's kind of the thing that Devin and I talk about out here on the field."
Out on the field, Devin Ross did his best to make his dad proud. The star running back scored a third-quarter touchdown to cut his team's deficit to 10 points.
In the end though, it wasn't enough and a 45-29 loss ended the Georgetown season. Yet, a Georgetown loss was never a matter of life or death.
For David Ross, just being there was all the life he needed.
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Even if I had to be wheeled here in a wheelchair, I would've came to see this game," David Ross told KVUE.
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