Skip to main content
Join Now

Philip Rivers' high school football team erupts in jubilation after Colts QB throws TD vs. Seahawks

Meby: Nick Geddes5 hours agoNickGeddesNews

Philip Rivers on Sunday started his first NFL game in nearly five years. The 44-year-old is under center for the Indianapolis Colts, who are on the road playing the Seattle Seahawks.

Back in Fairhope, Ala., the St. Michael Catholic High School football team is hosting a watch party for their head coach. Rivers, who took over as the school’s head coach upon his retirement in 2021, threw his first touchdown Sunday in the second quarter. The room back in Fairhope erupted in celebration.

Rivers threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Josh Downs to give the Colts to 13-3 lead late in the second quarter. At the time of writing, Indianapolis has a four-point lead at the midway point of the third quarter. While the zip hasn’t been there — as expected — Rivers has completed 11-of-18 passes for 88 yards and the score against the league’s No. 6 ranked defense.

Philip Rivers is back and dealing

Rivers’ team is cheering for him. This past Monday, they were scrambling to figure out if their coach was actually coming out of retirement to play for the Colts, who have lost both Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson to injury. Students at St. Michael Catholic aren’t allowed to have their phones in school, so the team had to find a new method.

“We were checking updates all day in school, going on Google, just typing in his name about every 10 minutes,” Tucker Tomlinson, a senior receiver at St. Michael Catholic, told NFL.com. “That was the worst part. Having to refresh all the news pages to see what we can find.”

The news eventually made its way to the team. Tomlinson still couldn’t believe it.

“When we finally saw it, we’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is real,'” Tomlinson said. “That’s something I would never expect. … Reports like that come out all the time, you know, it’s just crap. You see it, you’re just like, that’s funny. Let me joke with [his son] Gunner about it. This time seemed different, and it really came into fruition.”

It is, in fact, real. Rivers is starting games in the NFL again. If Sunday is any indication, he still has something left to give as the Colts look to secure a playoff spot down the stretch.