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Near the end of Maryville High School's final regular season football game against Lenoir City, MHS Quarterback/Receiver/Defensive Back Patton Robinette went down with a dislocated elbow.

What happened next was really special.

Keep in mind that this had probably been a pretty difficult year for the Lenoir City football team. A new coach, unmet expectations, a 2-7 record going into the last game of the year with no hope for the playoffs, and playing a Maryville squad seemingly headed down a traditional path of dominance.

That the LC Panthers played hard from the opening kickoff to the final buzzer is a tribute to their players, their coaches, and even their school.

So when Patton Robinette went down with a fourth quarter injury, a young man from the opposing team stood over him, protecting him from his own players.

Let me say that again.

In the heat of battle, with an opposing player lying on the ground crying out in pain and with play still going on, a young man from the team getting beat, whose entire season was about to be over, who had plenty of reasons to dislike every player in Maryville's red and black, stopped playing football and did the right thing.

After Dr. Todd Griffith and I had stabilized Patton's arm and moved him to the sidelines, always stoic Patton told me that there was a player that was standing over him when he first got injured.

I thought he must be complaining about the player taunting him after his injury. You might recall that I am originally from Loudon. You might not know that being from Loudon or Lenoir City means that you automatically dislike anything and everything from the other town despite being barely separated in geography.

Growing up in Loudon, you never had friends in Lenoir City. We didn't even like Halloween much because it shared the orange and black associated with our hated rivals across the river.

So I was doomed to assume the worst about the Lenoir City player.

Before game's end, a couple of the Maryville coaches had commented to me that the Lenoir City player had stood over Patton to protect him.

I asked Patton about this and he said "oh yes sir, he was trying to protect me, telling his own players to get away."

Oh, maybe there is an old school coach or overzealous fan out there that would have preferred that the young man keep playing. Concern for an opposing player is OK but ...

They miss the point of why we play these games in the first place.

Not this young man.

I would presume for a moment that the game stopped mattering to him. What he knew was that a kid, probably a lot like him, was in terrible pain.

So he helped not just a stranger but an opponent.

Now you know why this story is so special.

You could conjure up a lot of words to describe the actions of this young man. Certainly kind and caring. Humane. Even courageous. Maybe heroic.

All I know for sure is that he has a group of people in Maryville that hold him in high regard. That there are parents and coaches here that greatly appreciate what he did. People that don't know him but know that he has great character and compassion.

That young man was #37 for the Lenoir City Panther football team -- Justin Muhlhauser.

Joe Black, PT, DPT, SCS, ATC is a physical therapist and athletic trainer at Total Rehabilitation and is Manager of Outpatient Rehabilitation for Blount Memorial Hospital. Write to him at joeblackdpt@gmail.com.