Big Walnut’s Tindall makes most of football season after community rallies around family
Before the Big Walnut football team put together a 12-1 season, the program’s extended family rallied together to support linebacker Lucas Tindall and his family after his mother was diagnosed with lymphoma.
Tracie McCleave was diagnosed with large B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma last January.
“She started to get sick (during my junior season),” Tindall said. “We thought it was COVID. We kept getting COVID tests and they were coming back negative. Eventually she ended up getting a scan and there was a mass in her chest.”
Tindall, a senior, and his sophomore brother, Brady, have been doing work around the house – odd jobs and chores – to support McCleave during her fight.
But the Sunbury community also has contributed, with a GoFundMe started by McCleave’s sister, Teresa Hoskins, raising more than $18,000, surpassing the $15,000 goal.
“The whole community rallied together and definitely helped me through it – helped our whole family through it,” Tindall said. “(Assistant) coach (Tony Eisnnicher) owns a restaurant (PJ’s Family Restaurant) that helped with a fundraiser. That was huge.”
Meanwhile, on the field, Tindall enjoyed his biggest success. He had 54 tackles, including 13 for loss with two sacks, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and one defensive touchdown as the Golden Eagles went undefeated in the regular season for the first time since 2003, when they finished 10-1.
“Going through this offseason, he didn’t miss a workout,” coach Rob Page said. “Not one workout. I think he set the precedent for what the expectation and what the commitment level was. He’s definitely a guy that people rally around.”
Big Walnut captured the OCC-Capital Division title at 7-0, won two playoff games and had its best season since 2007, when it went 14-1 and won its only state title, defeating Licking Valley 17-10 for the Division III championship.
“It’s nice because football gets your mind off of things,” Tindall said. “When I play, I’m not focused on the stuff going on at home. I’m focused on being with my guys. It’s been a blast.”
The Golden Eagles, the top seed in the Division II, Region 7 playoffs, lost to fourth-seeded Massillon Washington 38-0 in a semifinal Nov. 12 at Arlin Field in Mansfield.
Tindall hasn’t completely nailed down the next phase of his life, but he’s got a pretty good idea.
“I’ve talked to a couple of Division III schools and a couple of Division II football schools,” he said. “I’m deciding what I want to do that would benefit me for being a (real estate agent). I’ve kind of been interested in it since the beginning of freshman year.”
A refrigerator proved symbolic to Tindall when describing his experience over the last year.
“Our fridge was broken for about six weeks,” he said. “This happened around Week 3 of our football season and we just got a new fridge. It just seems like everything’s falling apart, but things get better. We just got a new fridge. Her health is doing better. Things will turn around – that’s the main thing I’ve learned. It’s not going to be dark forever.”
BIG WALNUT FOOTBALL
•Record: 12-1 overall
•OCC-Capital standings: Big Walnut (7-0), Westerville South (6-1), Dublin Scioto (5-2), Canal Winchester (4-3), Worthington Kilbourne (3-4), Westerville North (1-5), Delaware Hayes (1-6), Franklin Heights (0-6)
•Seniors lost: Jordy Barrera, Ryan Bogoni, Caden Ellett, Grant Ferris, Quin Grundtisch, Aiden Hernandez, Wyatt Lenz, Lawrence O’Malley, Lane Pritchard, Roy Roberto, Dom Salazar, Colin Shirkey, Christian Takatch, Lucas Tindall, Jameson Welker and Adam Wilhelm
•Key returnees: Ethan Clawson, Cam Gladden, Jake Nier, Nicky Pentello, Nate Severs and Garrett Stover
•Postseason: Def. Olentangy 24-20; def. Canal Winchester 38-7; lost to Massillon Washington 38-0 in Division II, Region 7 semifinal
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Big Walnut football: Lucas Tindall makes most of senior season
