COMMENTARY — The eyes of the region keenly focused on the goal line by the south end zone at Panther Stadium Friday night.

For about 20 minutes, there were no Panthers or Thunder, no Tigers or Redmen, no Flyers or Warriors. Instead, we were all concerned human beings, members of a species blessed with the gifts of empathy and caring. On social media and in the stadium, plus around the state, everything stopped for a brief moment as we all wished, prayed and hoped for the best for Pine View quarterback Riley Livingston as he laid motionless on the turf.

The good news, of course, is that Livingston is OK after taking an inadvertent helmet-to-helmet hit from a Desert Hills player. He was briefly unconscious and did receive a concussion, but is otherwise all right. And while we could debate the danger of football or the effects of concussions on young athletes, I’d rather take this space to talk about the compassion and concern shown by so many people Friday night.

So many people expressed concern and well-wishes for Riley. My Twitter feed and cell phone were inundated with thoughts and queries concerning Livingston’s status. I put a Facebook post up after getting an update from the Pine View coaches and it received hundreds of likes and dozens of shares and comments.

It’s easy to see that as much as we “hate” our rivals and love to beat them, we are all part of a great community here in southern Utah and when the chips are down, we rally around each other.

Someone once said, “Sports is not real life,” and it’s true. But how we act and react to the sports we love, especially when something tragic or scary happens, that is real life. I’m proud to be a member of the southern Utah sports community.

Here’s a look at this week’s sports schedule in Region 9 (and the 3AA South) and good luck to the region teams at state in boys golf and goirls tennis this week:

TONIGHT
GIRLS SOCCER
Cedar at Desert Hills, 7:30 p.m.
Dixie at Pine View, 7:30 p.m.
Hurricane at Snow Canyon, 7:30 p.m.

VOLLEYBALL
Cedar at Snow Canyon, 7 p.m.
Desert Hills at Dixie, 7 p.m.
Pine View at Hurricane, 7 p.m.

Wed-Thurs., Oct. 7-8
State boys golf at Soldier Hollow in Midway

THURSDAY
FOOTBALL
Desert Hills at Snow Canyon, 7 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER
Pine View at Cedar, 4 p.m.
Dixie at Hurricane, 7:30 p.m.
Snow Canyon at Desert Hills, 7:30 p.m.

VOLLEYBALL
Dixie at Snow Canyon, 7 p.m.
Hurricane at Cedar, 7 p.m.
Pine View at Desert Hills, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY
State girls tennis at Liberty Park (Oct. 9-10)

FOOTBALL
Dixie at Hurricane, 7 p.m.
Pine View at Cedar, 7 p.m.

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

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