Rosecrans Football Team Volunteers for Memorial Day Weekend

ZANESVILLE, OH – Memorial Day is to honor those who died in active military service, and the Rosecrans Highschool football team did just that. Early this morning the 35 members of the football team went to Greenwood Cemetry to place flags on the graves of fallen veterans along with their coaches like Mike Zemba.

“So, this means everything to me. My grandfather served. Mike Zemba, in World War Two. I’ve never served but that why I’m a patriot because of people like that and, you know, I try to explain to our team the sacrifices that people like this have made and especially younger people today maybe don’t realize that, but it means the world to us and it’s something we constantly push in our team and our team atmosphere,” Zemba said.

For some players, like offensive lineman Logan Pratt, the personal connections to military within their own family helped them understand what their sacrifices meant.

“I mean my dad served four or five years in the Navy and it means a lot me, saluting people like him and others who’ve helped our county,” Pratt said.

This act of community service is just part of the broader effort by the team to give back to their community. Something that quarter back, Hayden Perdue finds pretty rewarding.

“I mean I was kind of excited. I just want to do things for other people. That was makes me feel better about it. They risked their lives for us which just means a lot,” Perdue said.

Both Pratt and Perdue can be seen taking the field as part of Rosecrans football team in the fall as juniors.