JUPITER, Fla. — It's playoff football time here in South Florida, and that includes the little guys in youth leagues.
A Pop Warner team in Jupiter has a big playoff game Saturday, and their head coach helped them beat the odds, like he has for decades.
WATCH BELOW: Quadriplegic football coach leads undefeated team to playoffs
The 8U Jupiter Mustangs are coached by Andrew Goodyear.
Goodyear has been a part of the Pop Warner Mustangs for 29 years, and most of it has been coaching.
"I have three kids on my team that I coach their dads, so that certainly makes me feel very old," Goodyear told WPTV anchor Mike Trim.
Goodyear is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a motorized wheelchair.
"I was in a car accident when I was 17 years old. I had just played two years of state championship tennis at our high school, and it was just an unfortunate situation. I ended up a quadriplegic, not a scratch on me, just broke my neck. That's how I ended up in a wheelchair. That was in 1981," Goodyear said.
In 1997, Goodyear's volunteer coaching career started with his stepson. Decades later, you can't miss him connecting with players on the field and sidelines.
"I'm not hovering above looking down on them. I'm looking them in their eyes. Somebody pointed that out to me one time and said, 'Hey, maybe that's the key to why you just connect well with the kids because you're really physically on their level,'" Goodyear told Trim.
A never-quit attitude is what Goodyear instills in his players.
"The thing I always stress more than anything else that's more important is never, ever, ever give up," said Goodyear.
In 29 years of coaching, Goodyear has never had an undefeated Treasure Coast conference team.
"I've had three other championship teams but not undefeated, so this one was particularly special," said Goodyear.
Coaching is something that's rewarding for Goodyear now, and also when he sees his former players.
"When they come back to me 15 years later and I see them out in public, and they come back and say, 'I remember those years, coach, and those were some of the best years of my life.' That's just gratifying," Goodyear said.
