Riley Leonard “Jesus Christ Decided Championship Fate..”
Oh dear! Maybe that’s how heartbreaks happen. Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish overcame all the hurdles without any help from any conference. However, on the D-Day, they had a nose dive, losing the national championship title to Ryan Day’s Ohio State Buckeyes. Are they upset?
Definitely. Did they talk ill about Day’s boys? Definitely NOT. In the post-game conference, Freeman’s quarterback Riley Leonard accepted the loss. After all, accordingly him, their fate was decided by Jesus Christ himself. Instead of being part of the blame game, Leonard issued an apology as well.
Riley Leonard is a quarterback defined not just by football
When most of the players’ world now revolves around the national championship, Leonard stands out of the crowd. Well, the Fighting Irish has seen it all. Coming off as an independent program, it was no easy task for Freeman’s program to come this far. The program maintained a 13-game victory streak before losing to red-hot Ohio State. Did the fresh defeat give Leonard a grinding alert to talk about Jesus Christ? During the post-game conference, Leonard’s speech centered around his savior, “Before I answer my question I need to thank my Lord Jesus Christ, for giving me the opportunity to play in this game.”
He continued, “Us and Ohio State were the two teams who praised Jesus Christ the most and I think we strengthened each other in our faith…I am happy to see godly man come out at top no matter what the circumstances.” Interestingly, Leonard’s faith in Jesus Christ had nothing to do with their 23-34 loss to the Buckeyes. That’s because, even during the pre-game conference, he shared how his heart fills up with gratitude seeing his friends and family members getting baptized rather than winning games.
Back in August last year, Leonard shared, “If that were to be the case and we win a national championship, that’s very hard to come back to Jesus. That’s something that I’m personally still working on. Win or lose, you finish a game, do you still show up at church on Sunday?” Even during his gameplay during the finals, after scoring a 75-yard touchdown drive, he displayed his wristband. It reads, “Matthew 23:12.” A gospel verse that states, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Even though the final score left Leonard and his program close to the ground, the quarterback did his part.
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