’Cracking the Code’
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’Cracking the Code’

Chantilly Youth Association’s Colton Roe collects “Pennies for Passes.”

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Twelve-year-old Colton Roe, the starting quarterback for the Chantilly Youth Association 95-pound American Vikings, raised $1,400 this year for charity.

For one game and one afternoon, the numbers next to Colton Roe’s name were unspectacular. In the 27th Annual Washington, D.C. Metro Bowl on Nov. 22, Roe attempted only one pass and it fell incomplete.

It didn’t matter. Not to Roe and not to the outcome of the game.

Roe’s Chantilly Youth Association American 95-pound Viking team earned a 34-6 win over the Kettering Largo Metroville Cougars, capping a 10-0 season during which the 12-year-old completed 31 of his 47 passes for 773 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Out of his team’s 10 victories this season, the final one meant the most to Roe because he was able to celebrate a significant accomplishment with his teammates.

“I was really happy on the football field because our team did good and dominated the season,” Roe said.

But with all of the impressive numbers listed above, none of them comes within 100 yards of Roe’s statistics off the field.

For the second year in a row, Roe collected “Pennies for Passes” to help Food for Others, a Fairfax-based charity that provides food for area families in need during the holidays. This season he raised over $1,400 and last year totaled $2,450.

“The need has really increased for emergency services in our area, and we’re very grateful for the generosity of everyone who gave through the program and to Colton and his family,” said Food for Others executive director Roxanne Rice. “We’re seeing many, many more people these days and our numbers have gone up considerably.”

For Roe, who was named the Fairfax County Football Hall of Fame’s 85-pound Central Division Player of the Year in 2007, the process was about “cracking the code,” or basically figuring out what life is really about.

“It’s not about me,” said Roe, who’s a sixth-grader at Virginia Run Elementary in Centreville. “It’s about the man standing next to me. It’s about the team and serving others.”

One-time donations were accepted along with pledges to donate a certain amount of money according to one of Roe’s quarterbacking statistics. You could donate a penny for every completion or a dollar for every yard.

Vikings coach Brian Newell, along with teammates and other coaches, helped Roe solicit donations both through email and in person. All told, Roe quarterbacked the operation much like leading his team’s offense on the football field.

“He’s truly a selfless kid,” Newell said. “It’s great quality to have with a quarterback because he doesn’t care if he scores or not. He’s happy that other people are scoring.”

Food for Others is the largest distributor of free food to people in need in Northern Virginia. It’s a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, non-profit organization funded in part by the Fairfax and Arlington County governments. To learn more, visit the organization’s Web site at www.foodforothers.org.

Roe cited the Indianapolis Colts’ Peyton Manning as his favorite professional quarterback, primarily for Manning’s leadership abilities and how he relates to teammates.

Asked what advice he’d give to other this holiday season, Roe responded: “For people to understand that life is about helping others.”