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By Tyler Erzberger
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Everything Fernando Mendoza does is for his mother, his biggest fan and champion.
His mother, Elsa, is at every game for her two sons (Alberto is the backup QB), and has multiple sclerosis (MS). Instead of the diagnosis pulling anyone in the family down, they lift each other up with her resilience, as the elder Mendoza has pointed to her throughout his magical season as the reason why he never gives up.
And on Monday night, Mendoza needed all the heart that she had given her son. Not only did he play against the school he had dreamed of attending as a kid in Miami, but the Hurricanes bruised and battered him throughout the game. He left the first quarter already with a busted lip and continued moving forward like he was perfectly healthy.
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After battling through Miami all night, he had his hero moment: flying through the air on a fourth-and-four, he ran 10 yards for a touchdown that won his team the national championship. He put his body literally on the line, hovering in the air to get the ball across the line, Miami defenders ramming into him, hoping to knock the ball from his grasp.
Mendoza didn't flinch and kept hold of the ball.
Following the game, tears in his eyes and having already cried in his post-game interview, he met his mother on the field with his father to celebrate the moment.
As the media surrounded him, he bent his damaged body down to hug his mom, whispering in her ear to tell her something that only she could hear.
In a moment when millions were watching across the world, with thousands in the stadium looking at them, that moment was only between the two of them.
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