A New Hampshire seventh grader got the shock of her life when Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman surprised her with two tickets to Super Bowl LIII.
The only thing Dejah Rondeau might love more than Julian Edelman and the Patriots is the game itself. This led the Exeter, New Hampshire native to become the starting quarterback of the Exeter Seahawks' seventh and eighth grade team. Yet, her teammates weren't excited about having a girl run the huddle. As a result, she was held to a higher standard than her peers. But the problems didn't end on the field. Rondeau was actually bullied in school for playing the sport.
"Some people don’t want to accept a female quarterback. She’ll have to put in 110 percent when others are putting in 50," Rondeau's mother Nichole Brock said. "But Dejah becoming the quarterback is the best thing that could happen to her. She’s worked really hard at it."
Patriots' owner Rober Kraft caught wind of Rondeau's story. It moved him enough that he invited the young talent to Foxborough, where he hoped a tour of their stacked trophy room would encourage Dejah to continue pursuing her dreams.
After the tour, Rondeau's idol Julian Edelman surprised her with two tickets to see the Patriots face off against the Los Angeles Rams in the big game.
"You won't be playing on Sunday, right?" Edelman asked as he gave her the tickets. "I heard about your story. About going out there and having the challenge of dealing with adversity because people not accepting this and that. My respect level for you is through the roof! Because you ignored all the noise and played the game we all love and that's football."
