When trying to emphasize how special this McClave football team is, sophomore Tim Pacino turns to some basic math.

“I think we have 10 players on injured reserved,” he said.

For those keeping track, 10 injured players for an 8-man football team is really bad math. Yet, somehow, the Cardinals remain undefeated and have wins over teams like Sedgwick County and Simla.

Ten injured players on an 8-man roster is certainly concerning math, but when factoring in a 6-0 record, a No. 3 ranking in the Colorado Preps football poll and a No. 4 ranking in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index, the results feel more complex than AP calculus exam.

For the most part, Pacino – who is fighting an injury himself – is watching from the sidelines and doing everything he can to encourage his teammates and provide a mindset that will be necessary when the playoffs begin in under a month.

He’s a multi-sport athlete that is also the definition of a Positive Athlete.

His attitude on the sideline is what landed him into the database of the youth sports foundation that Denver Broncos great Champ Bailey has given so much of his time and resources to while trying to benefit Colorado athletes.

Instead of feeling sorry for himself because he can’t get on the field, Pacino has decided to put his energy toward helping his teammates, no matter how that looks.

“Everything’s an even playing field when you get to high school, even in junior high sports,” Pacino said. “Nobody is going to feel bad for your situations. You just have to be toned in and synced up at all times.”

As a teenager, perhaps one of the toughest lessons to learn is that life exists beyond the stretch of field that is painted with white lines. Adding in that no one outside those 100 yards will dish out sympathy, Pacino chooses to keep looking forward rather than letting his head drop down.

He leads the entire nation when it comes to Positive Athlete nominees in terms of modules and content consumed. In mid-September, less than a month after nominations were opened up, he had consumed 11 hours of content across 80 available modules. Once a kid is a nominee, all these resources are available to them.

Pacino might be the best example of how to utilize those resources and understand how it is going to benefit him when his high school, and athletic career, is over.

“It’s definitely a long-term thing,” Pacino said. “If these other Positive Athlete nominees really get into these modules, it’ll benefit them not just in the short run, but also in the long run. It may come as a business leader or even a college athlete later on.”

And the value of learning how to be a great leader today is also there.

Positive Athlete awards can greatly benefit kids across the nation and Colorado has become a major beneficiary of the program. Bailey has been passionate about giving athletes in the state where he spent most of his professional career the kind of resources and opportunities that would have benefitted him at that age.

As an ambassador of the program, when he saw a Colorado kid leading the nation in taking advantage of the resources, he reached out to express his admiration for Pacino.

This was not a social media stunt. This was not for good PR. This was a message from a hall of fame football player to a kid, and that message was intended to stay between the two of them.

“It was cool, and it opened my eyes to not only the benefits [of the program] but that people do notice these kinds of things,” Pacino said. “I’m not the best athlete, and I’ve had problems with my health which makes it hard to get noticed. With this foundation, I can really get my voice out there and keep going with these modules to make myself a better person.”

It’s a mindset he tries to bring to his teammates. And judging by the way the Cardinals have played this year, some of the messages seem to be taking hold.