
Michael Taylor would have loved the Point Loma Pointers’ 30-26 come-from-behind victory in last Friday’s CIF Division III semifinal football game against Steele Canyon. In fact, he probably would have played in it.??Taylor might well have jumped high in the air as the final seconds ticked off the scoreboard clock, helmet-slapping his teammates, running from group to group and hugging the friends with whom he had practiced and sweated with for so long.??Finally, Taylor’s moment would have come. His beloved Pointers were headed to “The Q.” They were going to the county championships.?Instead, all Taylor’s teammates could do Friday after their emotional victory was point skyward and touch the white stickers on the back of their helmets — the ones with the letters “MT.”??Taylor was shot and killed almost a year to the day before this game. Only 15 years old, Michael and a female friend died at the hands of a gunman Dec. 6, 2008 as they walked home from a party in their Southeast San Diego neighborhood.??Adding to the pain, Michael’s killer has yet to be identified.?But the students and staff at Point Loma High remember the smiling, athletic freshman with the bright future. Football players and coaches attended a peace march last weekend in Southeast San Diego honoring Taylor and his friend. Pointer football players said they know Taylor will be with them in spirit on the sidelines at Qualcomm Stadium for their 1 p.m. contest against Cathedral Catholic in tomorrow’s championships.
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