DUPO — At age 14, Deegan Prater stood up and delivered an emotional speech at the funeral service of his older brother David.

“Toughest thing I’ve ever had to do,” the Dupo High senior quarterback said.

That heart-wrenching experience still resonates with Prater every single day following David’s death on May 17, 2022.

It drives him. It motivates him. It keeps him focused.

“When I play football, I’m always asking myself about the why,” Prater said. “Why do I play every play hard, every snap hard?

“He is that reason.”

Deegan has done his best with the intention of making his brother, a former Dupo athlete, proud.

“I’d like to think he’s looking down and smiling,” Deegan said.

The Deegan Prater-led Tigers are off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 1993, when they won their first

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