More than three weeks ago, I called up Cross Plains coach Daniel Purvis to get his thoughts on his team for our annual preseason preview.

It was exactly the type of conversation I’ve come to expect with Coach — full of the enthusiasm and optimism that make him one of my first and favorite phone calls every summer. 

By the time I hung up with him, he had me fired up about the 2022 Buffaloes and fully expecting to write about a season full of promise. The preview would detail Cross Plains’ unique mix of speed and size and the feature would highlight the Buffs’ speedy senior skill players — pretty standard stuff for this time of year.

Unfortunately, I never got to write those stories as planned. Instead, tragedy struck the Cross Plains football team and community when a car wreck in the early morning of hours on Aug. 7 took the life of senior running back Ryan Hopkins and left sophomore lineman Bentley Hall injured.