2B — April 10, 2017 SportsMonday The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com A starter, a walk-on and a prayer A ndrew Robinson’s house was on State Street, and Dymonte Thomas’ was right behind it on White Street. So last sum- mer, as the two were in Ann Arbor preparing for the Michigan football sea- son, Thomas was always cutting through Rob- inson’s yard. Whenever Thomas went anywhere, he walked down Robinson’s driveway, and then, because he’s Dymonte Thomas, “next thing you know we’d see him in our living room, just saying ‘What’s up?’ and stuff,” Robinson said. That’s how the bond formed between the two men who shared almost nothing except a yard and a football team. Their friendship developed in the com- ing months, after softball games and bowling outings and Thurs- day night Pizza House dinners along with kicker Ryan Tice. And then Thomas and Robinson blinked, and it was around 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 19, 2016, about an hour before kickoff of Thomas’ last game at Michigan Stadium. So as warmups proceeded around them, the two did what they always do at that time on Sat- urdays: They met in the north end zone, took a knee, locked arms and prayed. *** College football gets stressful, Robinson notes. So it’s good for him to have a “jokester” on the team like Thomas, who could walk into the locker room, crack a joke and lighten spirits. “He is the way I am,” Thom- as said. “I don’t know, it was just one of those friendships that you have where you just automatically connect really well.” That’s how the friendship developed between the two, by playful ribbing. Robinson’s younger brother would come visit, and Thomas would say to him, “Oh, the better Robinson’s here. When are you going to come here and take your broth- er’s spot?” Thomas would drop an interception, and Robinson would tease, “That’s what you get for not having hands.” Their football careers have almost nothing in common. When they prayed together last year, Thomas was a senior starting safety, Robinson a redshirt sophomore backup long snapper. Thomas could be an NFL Draft pick later this month; Robinson will never have that opportunity. Thomas was a four-star recruit in 2013, the No. 71 recruit in the nation and the No. 9 safety according to 247sports.com. He chose Mich- igan over Ohio State and Notre Dame. Robinson had to send out his game film in order to receive a visit from Michigan. He picked the Wolverines over Ohio and Grand Valley State. But the two shared some connections — family was important to both, as was religion. Thomas used to pray before games with reserve cornerback Terry Richardson, who played at Michigan from 2012 to 2015. After Richard- son graduated and transferred to Marshall, Robinson asked Thomas before last season’s opener against Hawaii if he could pray with him during warmups. The free moment always came after Thomas finished stretching with the return men, and Robinson finished practicing with the kickers. Thomas would flag Robinson down — “I wouldn’t pray with- out Andrew,” he said — and the two found a brief moment of peace before the chaos started. Thomas typically led. He fought nagging injuries, so he’d pray for health. He’d pray for Robinson to perform his job if called upon. He’d pray for either to be able to bounce back if Thomas dropped an inter- ception or Robinson botched a snap. After the prayer, Robinson would give Thomas a pep talk. The message, in Thomas’ mem- ory: Show why you’re one of the best safeties around. Domi- nate the day. Know that God’s got your back, and he’s going to protect you. After they finished, they stood up and hugged in a long embrace, and then they resumed their football duties. They did not skip a prayer last season. *** Once last season, Robinson’s mother told him she saw a fan tearing up in the front row watching the weekly prayer. The Wolverines pray as a team before every game, but Thomas and Robinson also enjoyed the chance to make their ritual public. “I look back at life and real- ize how blessed I am,” Thomas said. “I think it’s the right thing to do to give God credit, not only in silence but in front of people as well.” Thomas graduated in December and is spending his final months in Ann Arbor training and preparing for the NFL. His Michigan career finished strong, yet as he looks back, the prayer meant most to him in the toughest times. His first season, he played defense in just three games and fin- ished with seven tackles. He had to soak up the playbook and adjust to his college stud- ies. “When you go through (adversity) and some things that just don’t go your way, I won’t necessarily say you get away from God, but you kind of focus on trying to get better at whatever you’re struggling at,” Thomas said. “…At first, it was just hard, and I felt like God was leaving me, but then Andrew helped me realize that I can get through anything with God, and God’s never going to let me walk down a path by myself. He will always be there for me.” As for Robinson, football returns to Michigan Stadium on Saturday for the annual Spring Game, and Thomas won’t be there waiting in the end zone. Robinson has thought about what will happen then and thinks for now that he will pray by himself, until he and someone else find the same connection. When they do, watch for them. They’ll be in the same end zone, under the same goalposts, arm in arm, around noon. Lourim can be reached at jlourim@umich.edu and on Twitter @jakelourim. JAKE LOURIM, DAILY SPORTS WRITER/Daily Andrew Robinson and Dymonte Thomas knelt together in the endzone and united in prayer before the Orange Bowl, as they did before every game last season. SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN JAKE LOURIM Michigan surrenders early lead to Blue Jays For three minutes on Saturday in Baltimore, the Michigan women’s lacrosse team was sitting pretty. Senior midfielder Kim Coughlan put the Wolverines (1-3 Big Ten, 5-10 overall) on the board two minutes into the contest. Thirty seconds later, senior attackman Jess Angerman found the back of the net, and Michigan held a 2-0 lead over Johns Hopkins. But the shutout held for just 30 more seconds, before Blue Jay attackman CeCe Finney gave her team its first goal of the game. One minute later, Finney scored again, and after that the Wolverines’ Potemkin lead collapsed into a 15-8 loss. Three minutes after Finney’s second goal, midfielder Nicole DeMase gave Johns Hopkins (1-3, 9-4) the lead for good. The Blue Jays flew away with the rest of the half, as they scored five more goals — eight unanswered in total — to take an 8-2 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the period. Following Johns Hopkins’ eighth goal, Michigan coach Jennifer Ulehla decided to pull sophomore starting goalie Mira Shane in favor of redshirt freshman Alli Kothari. Kothari proved valuable for the remainder of the first period, saving two shots and allowing no goals. Her saves started to build up some momentum for the Wolverines, and with just 23 seconds remaining in the period, freshman midfielder Chandler Kirby scored the team’s first goal in over 27 minutes – a much needed boost going into the locker room. Just 38 seconds into the second half, Coughlan found the back of the net for the second time. A mere 13 seconds after that, freshman midfielder Molly Garrett put the ball past Blue Jay goalie Caroline Federico, and suddenly the Wolverines found new life. Johns Hopkins expanded the lead back to four just before the 28-minute mark — capping off a barrage of three goals in two minutes to begin the period — and that difference held steady for eight more minutes. The Michigan resurgence was still not over, though, as freshman attacker Lilly Grass and redshirt junior attacker Bianca Brueckner both found the back of the net to narrow the Wolverines’ deficit to just two – the team’s smallest margin since the 20:13 mark of the first period. But the resurgence disappeared as quickly as the mirage it appeared to be. The Blue Jays outscored Michigan 6-1 in the closing half of the second period to secure a 15-8 lead and win their first Big Ten game of the season. For the Wolverines, the loss marks the third straight in as many Big Ten matches since they won their opening conference game against Ohio State. Michigan will have two more chances to earn wins against Big Ten teams at home and improve its standing before the Big Ten Tournament in College Park. MAX KUANG/Daily Redshirt freshman goalie Alli Kothari replaced Mira Shane in net Saturday, allowing just seven goals in just over 40 minutes against the Blue Jays. MATTHEW KENNEDY Daily Sports Writer MICHIGAN J. HOPKINS 8 15 But the resurgence disappeared as quickly as the mirage it appeared to be. “There were a couple of opportunities that we had that maybe we missed,” Rennard said. “But I think we did a really good job on offense, defense and pitching to settle things down.” Despite the loss, the bullpen proved to be a bright spot. In six and two-thirds innings of relief, the bullpen allowed only one run and struck out seven. Rennard highlighted the bullpen’s strong effort, coming in for Hendrickson and allowing only one run in 3.2 innings. “(My mindset) was just to throw up zeroes, and keep the team in it by doing the best job I could and swing the momentum back in our favor,” Rennard said. In order to ensure that Sunday’s game is an anomaly, Michigan must be ready to play from the start. “We all (need to) lock it in from pitch one,” Rennard said. “You’re supposed to be, and sometimes it doesn’t happen. So from pitch one having that mentality of being aggressive and not feel out the first inning.” BASEBALL From Page 1B SOFTBALL From Page 1B During the second game, Falk blasted a three-run bomb, seizing the lead that Ohio State previously held. Blanco was a presence at the plate as well, adding four RBI in the game, including a three-run double that cushioned Michigan’s victory in the sixth inning. Sophomore second baseman Faith Canfield posted a career-high four hits in the second game, going 7-for-10 on the day. Canfield’s elite performance in the doubleheader is consistent with her recent achievement at the plate. She now bats .373 on the season — the third-best average for the Wolverines. “I’ve just kind of been getting comfortable,” Canfield said. “And I just go up (to the plate) to attack, see ball hit ball, just keeping it simple.” Betsa had yet another impressive showing as well, fanning 21 Buckeyes over 10 total innings pitched on the day. The ace tossed a complete-game win in the first slate and relieved Blanco for the last three innings of the second. She was untouchable in relief, allowing zero hits and collecting nine strikeouts. Moving forward, Michigan is looking to have a lot more days like Saturday. “My goal is for us to just keep getting better,” Hutchins said. “We’ve gotten a lot better in the last month and two months, but I thought we took a step back (Sunday). We can’t ever think that were done getting better.” Congratulations to the 2017 Michigan Daily Sports March Madness Bracket Champion: Rebecca Lerner She edits our content for one semester and thinks she can start showing us up.