This past July, Todd Doxey drowned while swimming. The young University of Oregon football player was honored at a memorial that 2,500 attended. Now his old team has had a chance for some closure, says The Oregonian, since the University of Oregon Ducks played a game against Oklahoma State last night in Doxey’s hometown.

The Oregonian reported:

Todd Doxey, who lived most of his young life with his grandmother. Doxey, a former redshirt freshman safety for the Ducks, drowned July 13 after a swimming accident in the McKenzie River in Springfield. He was 19.

A week after Doxey's death, several players and coaches from the UO football team were among the estimated 2,500 people who attended Doxey's memorial at The Rock Church in San Diego.

Five months later, the 15th-ranked Ducks' emotional season has brought them back to Doxey's hometown, where they will play No.12 Oklahoma State on Tuesday in the Holiday Bowl. For the Ducks, it's more than a bowl game. It's a unique opportunity for closure.

"I get chills just thinking about that," Oregon senior running back Jeremiah Johnson said. "That's just God working right there. I mean, we could have played in any bowl game. But He put us here so T-Dox could play with us. I truly believe that his soul is in San Diego, so it's going to be like we'll have a 12th man on the field for us."

Last night the Ducks defeated the Oklahoma State Cowboys 42-31. Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was the standout of the game, running three touchdowns and throwing another. Masoli, a transfer, did not know Doxey.