MARIETTA: '5th Quarter' film hits close to home | News

MARIETTA, Ga. -- The Abbate family of Marietta has dealt with one of the worst nightmares imagineable: losing a child. You might think it odd at first, but once you know the story, you'll see why they think it's good that everyone know their story.

Harrison High School sophomore Luke Abbate accepted a ride home from lacrosse practice in February 2006. That ride ended in tragedy.  Luke was killed, and the family made the gut-wrenching decision to donate his organs. That's the first part everyone should know, that organ donation makes a difference. Five people's lives were affected.

The other part is obvious, but at the same time many are oblivious to it. Teenagers think they're invincible.  Statistics prove otherwise of course, but the film "The 5th Quarter" hammers home the point. And in this case, it was easy for art to imitate life and use one of the most popular things in America as a vehicle for the message.

Luke's older brother, Jon, almost quit the Wake Forest University football team when his younger brother died.  "Jon came home, ready to quit," said the boys' father Steven. But as they worked through their grief, they thought more and more about something a pastor said at the service. 

Luke wore the number 5 on the Harrison high team, and the suggestion was for the family to hold their hands high in the air as a tribute to that number at the start of the fourth quarter. So the most important part of the game where one play can make the difference, became known as "the 5th quarter."  That spread from the high school to Jon's college team.  It seems like the rest is Hollywood fiction, but it's a script that's 100 percent reality-based.

The lightly regarded Wake Forest team won the ACC Championship and went to the Orange Bowl.  Writer/producer/director Rick Bieber approached the family about making a movie.  Their initial skepticism was replaced by faith as they grew to know Jon during hundreds of hours of interviews in an effort to "get it right" Bieber said.

The movie had multiple premieres in cities with connections to the family, the last of which was Wednesday night at Phipps AMC theatres in Atlanta.  The movie opens at multiple outlets on Friday. 

Remember, they were all inspired by number 5. Wake Forest beat Georgia Tech 9-6 in the title game (a total of 15 points). The movie opens on a date that's a multiple of 5, five years after the tragic event.  It seems reality writes the best scripts after all.