Collins ‘mainstay,’ Jacob Hill hits end zone on play he created
By John Herndon, 110forChrist.com
SHELBYVILLE – Everything about football Senior Night at Collins High School last Friday night was special.
There was one special play that resulted in one special touchdown.
It resulted in so many high-fives that they could not be counted.
There was one handoff. Many smiles. Many tears. One team. Infinite memories.
And one young man with immeasurable impact.
Special, certainly.
That was Jacob Hill’s night. As a kindergartner, Jacob was a Titan before that first Collins snap in 2010. Friday night, as a high school senior, he brought together years of fandom and influence. It was the union of encouragement, overcoming and victories.
It was the night Jacob Hill scored a touchdown.
Collins was heavily favored to score its first district win of 2023 last Friday. The Titans were hosting Anderson County, a team mired in a 13-game losing streak. As expected, Collins rolled to a 45-8 win to notch the program’s 100th win since the school opened in the fall of 2010.
After the game, the school’s athletic director, Kate Tucker, presented Coach Jerry Lucas, the only head coach in the program’s history, with a picture commemorating the milestone. It was a moment to celebrate.
But most of the talk was about Jacob Hill scoring a touchdown. And that included Lucas, who was ecstatic to share the night with a special young man who lives and breathes Titan football.
And, with Lucas’ help, Jacob drew up his own special play. “It was a great thing,”Jacob said of being able to find the end zone.
“Great” might be an understatement.
“I cannot even express to you in words the blessings that I have gotten from Jacob Hill,” Lucas said. “And the thing is, we talk about all the times, the different teams that come through and in this profession, people drift in and out of your life. Jacob started with us from Day One. You think about that. He is graduating this year and all the teams that have been here, Jacob has been with them. I have a picture of Jacob at our youth camp when he was little bitty. He’s been here through our state championship run through all the times we have gotten to coach all the way through November. Jacob has been with us the entire time.’
You see, Jacob Hill is not your normal student who puts on the shoulder pads just because he wants to play. Jacob would like nothing better than to be running for touchdowns or making a goal line stop every Friday night.
Unfortunately, he can’t. A congenital heart defect known as Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome means that Jacob’s heart has only two chambers not the four found in a normal heart. He’s had five open heart surgeries and complications from surgery resulted in Jacob suffering a stroke that has seriously limited his ability to walk or talk.
Yet, Jacob’s heart might be underdeveloped but it is constantly overflowing with a joy that he freely shares.
“Everybody,” Lucas said when asked who is impacted by Jacob’s constant smile and determination. “Everybody he comes in contact with. He is a blessing in everything he does and he just loves Titan football.”
That relationship with Collins football began back in 2010 when Jacob enrolled as a special needs kindergarten student at Clear Creek Elementary School. His family had known Jacob would face serious limitations and difficulties even before he was born.
“We knew about (the defect) during my wife’s pregnancy,” says Jacob’s father, Thomas Hill. “(Sarah, his wife) was more prepared for it than I was because she is a nurse.”
Sarah added, “We were devastated. We were told he wouldn’t walk or talk and we weren’t going to be OK with that. We got him into early intervention as soon as we were able and we worked with him all the time.”
And Sarah saw something extra special in those early years. “He always had a light in his eyes and he was always determined and the hardest worker,” she remembers.
But a major test would come when Jacob was ready for kindergarten.
It just happened that Jay Cresap, a former football standout at Shelby County High School, had returned to his hometown from college “I was looking for a place to go,” he recalls. “So I decided to go be a special needs assistant the day before school started and I found my best friend that way.”
And Cresap had been hired to coach wide receivers for Lucas, who had been his offensive coordinator at Shelby County. The dual roles of coaching football and coaching a special needs student came together in a bond that will likely be a part of Collins football for years to come.
“I worked at Clear Creek Elementary and my first year, Jacob was in a wheelchair full-time,” Cresap says. “I was one of the only ones that could lift him and assist to walk, so naturally we bonded. That summer I started babysitting him from 8 a.m, to 6 p.m. everyday. Collins had just opened and I was lucky enough to be coaching there so I had to take him to every practice.”
And even though Jacob Hill wasn’t old enough to strap on a helmet, he was at practice every day, almost out of necessity. “I was babysitting him every day, so after he got on the bus, I had to beat the bus to his house, then bring him back to football practice,” Cresap smiles.
Cresap’s role as Jacob’s babysitter ended during the COVID-19 pandemic as Jacob’s mother began working from home and his father had been laid off work. But the bond could never be broken. The pair continue to FaceTime several times a week.
Jay is convinced that those early years of being around a winning football program pushed Jacob even more.
“I believe him watching practice and learning football expanded his drive to want to be a coach or even play someday,” Cresap says.
The reality of Jacob’s physical limitations meant that would never be possible. At least, not until Friday night.
“Jacob doesn’t take his issues as an excuse,” says his pastor, Dave Hamlin, of Shelby Christian Church. “He acts like every other kid but he’s smart enough to know that he’s not like every other kid.”
At Shelby Christian, Jacob helps run the audio-visual equipment for the elementary school ministry.
Around Shelbyville, he is a part of the Shelby Stars team in Special Olympics and has participated in track and field. His father says Jacob is also learning bowling through Special Olympics.
And like most teens, Jacob loves video games. “I will tell you he is the best one-handed X-Box player you will ever see,” Cresap says with a laugh.
But the highlight of the week is Collins Titan football where Jacob serves as a team manager. Prior to games, he makes his rounds greeting fans seated close to the field, high-fiving Titan players and often hugging Lucas or one of the other Collins coaches.
When the game kicks off, he’s encouraging his teammates and letting officials know his displeasure at some of their calls. “In the games, he’s watching the ref,” Thomas Hill chuckles. “He’s saying, ‘Where’s the penalty? Come on!’”
Lucas adds with a grin, “I will tell you this: Jacob is a Titan homer. Every call has to be for the Titans.”
But perhaps the toughest call in Jacob Hill’s life came earlier this year, when Cresap, his beloved friend, was diagnosed with brain cancer.
“Jay is part of our family,” Thomas Hill says. “He is like Jacob’s brother, his uncle. He has been that for 13 years.”
Sarah Hill says that the decision to tell Jacob about Jay’s condition would not be easy. “It took us a while to tell Jacob,” she said. “We told him Jacob would be having surgery and it would be on his brain. Jacob said, ‘I am going to see him.’
“When we took Jacob to see Jay after the surgery, Jay was unable to move one side of his body. Jacob was like, ‘You have to move it. You have to practice. You have to do the therapy.’”
Cresap, who is recovering and hopes to return to his current job at German American Bank soon, credits Jacob with playing a major role in his recovery. “One of the first people to visit me in rehab was Jacob’s mom,” Cresap recalls. “I was paralyzed on my left side. With Jacob having cerebral palsy he is partially paralyzed on his right side. It was only fitting that as one we made a whole.
“Over the years I had to take Jacob to therapy 2-3 days a week, now I was the one in therapy. He coached me through things that were frustrating. He pushed me to wanna get back to normal.”
Jacob was glad to help his special friend. “I pushed him to get well with his therapy so he would get stronger again,” he says.
And even though Cresap is no longer a part of the coaching staff, when Jacob Hill was honored on Senior Night, Jay walked on the field with Jacob, Thomas, Sarah and Jacob’s brother, Anthony, and sister, Chloe.
Moments later, Jacob took the handoff from quarterback Kade Goodin, then found the hole where the Anderson County defense had parted. It was a play the Titans had practiced several times on Thursday.
“Jay didn’t tell him why he was coming to practice (Thurssday),” Lucas said. “He just told him he was coming to practice.”
“He woke up at 3:30 in the morning for yesterday’s practice,” Cresap added.
And while at practice, the Titan coaching staff fitted Jacob with a helmet, pads and a uniform to wear on Senior Night.
As he crossed the goal line, the Bearcats were clapping and Jacob’s Titan teammates were mobbing him.
“I know the kids love him,” Cresap said. “He was super nervous. He has been calling me all day and he has been watching film. We sent him a video of his practice. He just wants to be one of the guys.”
And last Friday night, Jacob really was one of the guys.
“Our kids just love him. They just absolutely love him,” Lucas said. “He gets so excited and he means so much to us as a school and as a football program. He has just been a mainstay for us. Every team that has come through, everybody knows who Jacob Hill is. You talk about 14 yars. He is a part of our lives, especially for the coaching staff since most of us have been here the whole time.
“There is no doubt in my mind that when he graduated in May, he is not done with Titan football.”
And it will continue to be special.
Louisville Cardinals are huge in Jacob Hill’s life
While Jacob Hill is a Collins Titan on Friday nights, he trades the Columbia Blue for Cardinal Red on Saturdays.
Louisville Cardinal Red, that is.
“He absolutely loves the Louisville Cardinals,” Lucas says.
And, Thomas Hill says, Jacob wanted to wear a white cap like Cardinal coach Jeff Brohm. “He said, ‘I have to have that Brohm hat.’ So we ordered him a white U of L hat. So the next game, when they played Notre Dame, Jeff Brohm had on a red hat. So Jacob said, ‘I have to go with the red hat tonight.’”
Ironically, Jacob’s favorite Cardinal is known for his exploits on the basketball court, not the gridiron. “His idol is Peyton Siva,” Cresap says. “He has gotten to meet Peyton twice. He’s also a huge Lamar Jackson fan. He’s a (Baltimore) Ravens fan because of that.”
Jacob is also a big fan of the Cincinnati Reds and counts Elly De La Cruz as his favorite player.
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