(Merle Bertrand Photo) Colton and Lorri Cunningham stand with one of the cleats (autograhed by Jason Taylor) Colton won July 30th on an online Facebook contest .

By Chuck Licata

One wouldn’t argue that Moms in the Liberty Hill community would go to great lengths to help and support their children.

It happens each and every day.

Back in late July, one Liberty Hill Mom (Lorri Cunningham) went world-wide to help her younger son, Colton, enter a contest for new football cleats – autographed by NFL standout defender Jason Taylor.

(Merle Bertrand Photo) Colton Cunningham poses with the NFL-Autographed cleats he won in a Facebook contest.

It was a win-win situation for the contestants (including Cunningham) and Taylor, who tied the contest into his Jason Taylor Foundation Facebook page.

The week-long contest was simple: contestants were encouraged to hit the “Like” button on the Foundation page then hit “Like” on the contestant they wanted to win the cleats. For her part, Cunningham enlisted the help of a few Liberty Hill community members (who have large Facebook followings) to keep piling up votes for Colton (under Lorri’s name and profile).

It drew many new group members to the Foundation – and created one exciting contest for the cleats.

(Merle Bertrand Photo) A close-up of the autographed cleat, signed by NFL defensive standout Jason Taylor.

The “drive for the cleats” came down between Colton and one other contestant. Their battle literally went minute-by-minute; the other contestant led the early stages before a big push put Colton ahead. He held that lead until the last day (July 29) when the other contestant got a big surge of votes.

The last two hours were “hair-pulling” exciting. Both contestants went back-and-forth with the lead; the lead went back-and-forth like an old-school heavyweight title fight between two boxers going toe-to-toe.

When the dust settled and the contest ended, Colton (and Lorri) Cunningham came up one vote short. The Cunninghams accumulated 557 votes while their “opponent” tallied 558.

The taste of defeat was a tad bitter but Lorri showed her class by immediately posting a “thank you” to all who supported Colton’s effort.

But wait – there’s more.

Because the contest went down to the wire, the Foundation board made a decision shortly after the contest ended that would make Colton and his followers very happy.

Here’s the Foundation’s post on its Facebook page: “Because the top two contestants have been battling it out for the love of their sons as well as raising awareness for the Jason Taylor Foundation, JT has decided to give a second pair of his autographed cleats to LORRI WALKER CUNNINGHAM! Congratulations and thank you for all of your support!”

Sometimes, coming in second is good enough.

Colton Cunningham proudly displayed his Jason Taylor-autographed cleats at Liberty Hill’s “Meet The Panthers” event in early August. His smile lit up Panthers Stadium brighter than any bank of lights.

Anyone who dismissed Facebook as “too invasive and intrusive” might want to re-think their position. Colton Cunningham will certainly tell them different.