Nick Stoner

Sitting at CG’S football scrimmage a few weeks ago I couldn’t help but
 think of how CG football and my Coaches helped make me the man I am 
today.

 After playing soccer from the age of 5, I decided to try my hand at
 playing 7th grade football and even managed to make it through 8th
 grade as a WR with only three thrown passes my way.
By my freshman year I began to hear something about Hard Work x
 Dedication = Success but had no idea just what Coach Moore was trying
 to teach me. I thought I was Working Hard when Coach was watching, Dedication was showing up and putting my pads on, and Success was wins
 versus losses.

Sophomore year I continued my own vision of what Hard work x Dedication
 = Success meant. I struggled with what I thought Coach and others
 expected from me and tried even harder to run from the Hard Work, the
 Dedication, and believed that Success belonged to others.

By my Junior year, two amazing things happened: God found me and I 
started to embrace God’s purpose for me. Hard Work now meant applying
 myself 100% on and off the field. Dedication became solely committing 
myself to the task at hand. Success = God’s purpose.

Senior year came and went with many rewards and opportunities that
 were a result of what God, my Parents and Coach Moore had put in front 
of me. Standing here today as a young man I fully realize that while 
I had my own interpretation of what Hard Work x Dedication = Success 
meant, I know now that God, my Parents’ and Coach Moore’s Hard Work for 
me x their Dedication to me = My Success. Lesson learned Coach! Thanks 
Mom and Dad - and all Glory to God!

Good Luck Trojans! Represent on and off the field and remember
 Colossians 3:23. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as
 though working for the Lord.”

Nick Stoner
Class of 2011

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