No high school football team would be where it is today, if it weren't for the support system around it.

Players and coaches may make up the official team, but parents, students and other fans play a huge role as well, even if it is often behind the scenes.

Sometimes, teams pay tribute to those who help.

Throughout the pregame warm-ups and in through the first half of Friday's Middle Creek-Fuquay Varina game, Lu White watched from the stands, not expecting anything out of the ordinary.

"I thought they had said that somebody with the last name White had won a t-shirt. So I was talking to a friend of mine whose son graduated last year as well, and my husband said 'You'd better go down there!'" said White.

During halftime, the school had a little presentation planned: they presented White with a framed jersey her son, Michael, wore last year.

"She has been instrumental in our success," said Athletic Director Lewis Owens.

Lewis said that if White hadn't taken a leadership role with the little things off the field, the Mustangs wouldn't have had as much success on the field.

"We fed everybody before games, after games, gave them Gatorade," explained White. "We coordinated transportation back in the early days before there was even actually a stadium yet or any buses. We helped them get uniforms, we helped them line the field, we helped whatever they needed basically."

What really impressed administrators was that tradition continued even after all her sons had graduated.

"Most of the time when seniors graduate, so do the parents," said Owens. "So we're extremely happy to do this for her tonight."

"Football is something we love," said White. "They just needed help and we like being a part of it."

Even with her sons off to college, she's managed to still be part of the team.

Aside from rewarding White with the framed jersey, the team rewarded her in a different way by beating Fuquay Varina by a final of 15-13,

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Keep up with the stories Chris Cowperthwaite is working on every day: http://twitter.com/CCowperthwaite.

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