If there was ever an excuse to miss a game as a head coach, Ray Acosta had maybe the easiest out possible.

And yet the Alchesay football coach wouldn’t allow it.

He could not let his players take the field without him even though he was going to take the field in Week 3 of the season without part of his right leg after having it amputated.

“If I can do something like that, they can do anything they put their minds to on the field or in life,” he said. “I get a lot of praise about what I am doing with my leg like this, but really it is about showing these kids what you can overcome. It’s what keeps me going, these kids and what we can teach them.”

If I hadn’t seen him on the sidelines Friday night in a wheelchair, I am not sure I would have believed it, but there he was at Chandler Prep coaching his devoted players as best as he could from his new vantage point.

In pregame, he was being pushed around to different spots on the field. Finally, just before the game started, he rallied his players around him and spoke with a direct, no-nonsense candor. He told them to thank their loyal fans, who made the trip and to get ready to play the best game of their lives.

Alchesay coach Ray Acosta makes sure his players acknowledged the Falcon fans who made the trip to Chandler. (Jason P. Skoda/AzPreps365)

The Falcons ended up losing their 2A first-round game to the Titans, 26-21, but Alchesay, which hadn’t been in the playoffs since 2018, nearly came back in the fourth quarter.

The players never gave in to the struggles, or injuries. They never felt like they weren’t going to win and didn’t want to let down a coach who clearly pushed through life-changing adversity earlier in the year in order to be there for them as much as he possibly could.

He fought through the mental side of losing a limb and dealt with the physical change as well. He took it straight on. Wouldn’t let it define him. Never gave thought to stepping back and assessing his new lot in life.

Acosta faced the adversity, something kids from the reservation know a little bit about.

He adapted to the changes. Never let the negativity fully take over. And he showed up for them. He made sure they didn’t see him take the easy way out.

He was their coach. And that’s exactly what he was going to do.

It didn’t matter that he lost his leg on Sept. 1. He was committed to them and that meant being on that sideline on Sept. 5 for a 56-8 win over Madison Highland at home.  

“He showed us what it means to be all in,” junior linebacker Edgar Adams said. “He came back, and we want to play hard for him.”

So how did it get to the point where a 54-year-old coach had to have a portion of his leg removed?

First off, Acosta is diabetic. Then right around the start of the season he got light-headed when he bent over to pick something up, fell and cut his pinky toe. Fast forward, the cut became infected and the antibiotics didn’t work. He drove down to Phoenix on Friday, August 29 after beating Window Rock on a Thursday in Week 2.

Dr. Christopher Suykerbuyk looked at it, and when it was clear it wasn’t healing, it was time to get an MRI with an attempt to save the toe.

“He said the MRI will give us an idea, but it doesn’t always see everything,” Acosta said. “Once he got in there, it was bad. He came in all choked up and crying. He’s been my doctor for 14 years. I had sepsis. Flesh eating bacteria. He said we went from trying to save my foot to trying to save my life.”

It meant he had to have his right leg amputated just below the knee. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Michael Duran took over and completed the surgery. While coming to terms with it as he sat in his bed at Banner Desert in Mesa, he started game planning for Week 3 against Madison Highland with his coaches.

“I had to do something, and we had a game to play,” he said. “I was in contact with the coaches and I was breaking down film. I was getting a ton of support. The community, the team, my family and my girlfriend (Kelly Gatewood) is my rock.

“I didn’t miss one damn game.”

After everything went well the rest of the week, he was discharged on Thursday and he drove the 3.5 hours back to Alchesay area in Whiteriver.

There was only one thing left to do, and once the logistics were figured out, Acosta was on the sidelines.

For his players, for the community, and for anyone who seemingly had the wind knocked out of them. (Ok, having your leg amputated is a bit more substantial than having the wind knocked out but you get the point).

“There was no way he wasn’t going to coach again,” his brother and assistant coach Manuel Acosta said. “I didn’t think it would be the next week, but there he was a few days later.”

It just goes to show what someone can accomplish when they feel strongly about something, realize how their actions can be a teaching moment and felt the need to show his players what it means to be resilient.

“I know I just wanted to stay positive,” he said. “If you don’t then who knows where it goes. We made the playoffs and that was important. Now, we can build off that type of season.”

Acosta is also the school’s baseball coach. By the time the season cranks up in February, he expects to be up and moving by then as the wheelchair should be a thing of the past.

“In about a week, I’ll get my prosthetic,” he said. “I’ll be walking around the dugout and coaching the baseball team.”

Maybe so, but by those players that surround him will always remember their coach. The one who could have taken some time. He could have let a game or two go by.

But no. That's not what he felt he needed to in that moment. He had to show up.

It's what the people of Alchesay do.