Burlington Central's Lossau enjoys his shining moment

Burlington Central's Zac Lossau, a manager for the Rockets boys basketball team the past two seasons, was recognized along with others as part of senior night Friday. He and four of his teammates played in a two-minute scrimmage against five Woodstock North players before the varsity game.

Lossau got the biggest cheers of the night for each basket he scored. He has known most if not all the team's seniors since first grade at Country Trails grade school, through Prairie Knolls Middle School and now Central High School.

Lossau, who has Down syndrome, has separate classes from the general ed students through the Mid-Valley Special Education Cooperative but was always in the same school.

His father Steven said when Zac got to high school age they let him go to Central in order to learn to be more independent and part of the general ed student community where his son took elective classes such as art, chorus, agriculture and astronomy.

Steven Lossau said his son has always looked up to his "team" through the years. He wanted to be "on the team."

"It has always been tough for him, having Down syndrome, to accept that there are going to be things in life that are going to be harder for him to accomplish," Steven said. "He gets frustrated and mad at times. Being manager got him on the bench and most importantly with his team. That meant the world to him."

Steven Lossau said Friday's Senior Night floor time was a complete surprise to Zac. Central's athletic department worked with Woodstock North's athletic department "to give Zac his moment," said Steven.

"You can see in the pictures the joy it brought him, Central's team and fans, and Woodstock North's team and fans," Steven said. "Everyone came together to give him his time to shine. They all cheered. Lots of them cried. All it took was two minutes. Those two minutes will remain with him forever as one of his happiest moments ever.

"Schools changed. Rules changed. But the kids stayed the same. Zac will never forget them and I don't they will ever forget him either."