There’s a lonely tractor tire sitting in the southeast corner of the football field at Cooper High School, a few feet outside the end zone.

It looks out of place. Why is there a tractor tire next to a football field? There’s nothing pragmatic about it, but in terms of what it represents, it really could be nowhere else.

The tire is there to honor Andrew Ariegwe — “Coach Drew,” the Hawks’ strength and conditioning coach who died unexpectedly only days before the season started.

Ariegwe was a big man — 6-5 and 300 pounds, rock-solid — and a former bodybuilder. He hadn’t been at Cooper long, less than a year, but he immediately became part of the Hawks family. He was likeable, friendly and dedicated.

“His laugh,” senior lineman Richard Lahr said. “He was always happy. You would notice him anywhere. He had the loudest laugh and the majority of the time, he was the biggest man in the room.”

Ariegwe’s training programs feature hammers. Big ones. Hammers that represent strength and hard work.

“He loved to incorporate big old hammers into his lifts. That was something we always loved about him,” junior tight end/defensive end Jaxon Howard said. “Now, before we get to practice, we go out there with a sledgehammer and we pound it into our tire. It emphasizes ‘Clock in,’ and then before we leave, ‘Clock out.’”

“He fit in right away when he got here,” said Cooper coach Willie Howard, Jaxon’s father and a former Vikings defensive lineman. “He was a big man and strong, like me, and kids just kind of gravitated towards him. They loved him. And he loved Cooper.”

“He talked about getting Cooper tattooed on him,” Lahr said. “He loved Cooper.”

This has been, unquestionably, the best football season the Hawks have ever had. There have been good teams in the past, churning out Division I players such as Phillip Howard (Gophers), Phoenix Sproles (North Dakota State) and Eric Abojei (Wyoming), but never have they reached a point where they get to play an end-of-the-season game indoors.

“I think the only time I’ve played inside was in youth football,” Jaxon Howard said.

They’ll get their chance Friday when Cooper (9-2) plays Mahtomedi (9-2) in the Class 5A semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Hawks had been close often but were frequently tripped up in the section finals.

This season has been different. Coach Howard, as he has in the past, asks more from his players than simply to run fast and hit hard. He sees football as a conduit for life, providing a pathway to a better future for students at their school. Cooper is a diverse school in race and economics: Students of color make up three-fourths of the enrollment, and 62% of students are on a free or reduced lunch program.

“We talk to them about the why: Why do you want to play football? For some of them, they use it as motivation, an opportunity to get out of where they come from and get to college,” Howard said.

Howard cried earlier this year when he informed the team that Ariegwe had died of a sudden cardiac event just prior to an important preseason scrimmage, which was then canceled.

“He was like a big brother to me,” Jaxon Howard said. “Even though I do have an older brother, having another guy there felt great.”

When the grieving subsided, Willie Howard began to see Ariegwe’s memory as an opportunity to illustrate to his players the importance of commitment.

“When they heard the news, it took that ‘Why’ to a whole other level,” Willie Howard said. “Saying ‘I‘m going to do it for my dad, or for my brother, or for my sisters who look up to me’ — it gave so much more meaning to it. Somebody they’re so close to, like Andrew, somebody you care about and are willing to put it on the line for, could be gone tomorrow.”

In talks with his players, Howard heard a lament often repeated: “Why is it always somebody who is willing to come be a part of us and make us better?”

The memory of Coach Drew — the family man with two young children and a fiancée — has been front and center all season for the Hawks. They put stickers on the back of their helmets: “Ariegwe Strong.” They wore chains around their necks when coming out for warmups, a nod to his penchant for using chains in his workout routines.

Their motto all season: “Do It for Drew.”

There were times in games when the Hawks would be facing a crucial moment and Willie Howard, who spent the season preaching a give-it-all mentality to his players, would simply call out “Coach Drew.”

“When you get that in your head, you’d go the extra mile,” Lahr said. “You’d start thinking about him. He was always telling you that you’ve got more than what you really think.”

Players said they believe Ariegwa’s influence is the reason they are playing deeper into a football season than any previous Hawks team.

“I think his memory is what’s driving us,” Jaxon Howard said.