On March 25, the story of Wake Forest football's rise to the top of the ACC in 2006 will hit the theaters around the country in The 5th Quarter. But The 5th Quarter is more than a football movie: it's also the story of the Abbate family who lost their son Luke when the driver of the car he was riding in began joyriding and crashed the car, and who found hope a foundation for healing in their son Jon's on-field heroics as the Demon Deacons' star middle linebacker. Early this spring, I had a chance to sit down with both Maryanne, Luke's mother, and Jon himself to discuss the lessons they've learned and how they hope the movie will save lives.

In the second of a two-part special For the Love of the Game, Jon Abbate tells his story of loss, family, and how football held gave them hope.

The movie almost feels like it makes my parents feel closer to Luke, or brings them healing. I can't watch it more than once even though they've seen it over and over. It was hard then for me to see Luke donate his organs. Looking back, it was the right decision, and honestly, it wasn't my decision to make. [Luke] checked the box. He was just a giving person who wanted to help out, and his example teaches us not to take life for granted.

Going back to school, I felt a lot of pressure to perform for WFU and my teammates, but I also felt like the better I played, the happier it made my parents. I needed to perform to make them happy, to hold us together, and the only way was football. I've always tried to put everything on the backburner for myself to help my family, and I felt like if I didn't help my mom, serious things could've happened.

When I came home that night [a significant scene from the movie], to sit and see how torn up my mom was, it was extremely painful. I remember putting her to sleep, remember sleeping in the bed to make sure she was okay. I couldn't sleep because I was worried about her. You don't ever want to see anybody hurt like that. I remember telling her, 'I already lost a brother, I don't want to lose my mother, too.'

People would say frustrating things like "things happened for a reason" and "things take time." You just have to be there for people and nothing you say can actually make it any better.

At Wake Forest, the whole community and team were very close. When someone you're close to goes through something, you feel it, too. They felt my pain and saw what I went through. When you're teammates are struggling, you help them out. When you're struggling, they help you out. You realize how important relationships and people are. I had that relationship with Coach Billings and we had that conversation [you see in the movie]. It was unspoken about the relationship because he had lost his first wife to cancer and we became close.

I do think that the movie will help the Five Foundation, to save young peoples' lives. When you're driving, you are responsible for everyone in the car. The whole point of the Foundation is to save peoples' lives; if one person's life is saved because someone sees the movie, it's a success.

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