BOISE -- A Boise youth football team is making national headlines after they pulled a couple from a violent rollover crash on the side of an Oregon desert road.
On Thursday, KTVB spoke to the team about their story, a story that many are calling heroic.
Heading into the Bay Area Spring Football League Tournament of Champions this past weekend in San Jose, Calif., the Boise Black Knights had one goal: to put Boise AYF football on the map.
By the end of the weekend, the Boise middle school club football team did just that.
The team surprised a lot of people by knocking off the defending national champions 34-6 to win the Tournament of Champions.
Knights head coach Rudy Jackson says he couldn't have been prouder to watch his team raise the trophy.
"There was a lot of hugging and crying, everybody's hard work came full circle," Jackson said.
At the time it seemed like all challenges for the team had been proudly accomplished, but less than 24 hours later the team came face to face with a challenge that would put their teamwork to the test.
Less than a hundred miles from home, the team came across a violent rollover crash in the desert near Jordan Valley, Ore.
The team quickly found a man, Alan Hardman, and a woman, Margaret Hardman, upside down and trapped in the vehicle.
"We saw the car and pulled to the side and automatically knew that we had to help," said Knights player Esai Martinez. "Everything was thrown everywhere it was pretty bad, there was a little bit of blood."
The group of middle-schoolers immediately ran to the crash, and were able to pull Alan out.
"The boy said, 'I'm not going to leave them in here like this' and they started straightening my legs and pulling me out," said Alan.
Next, the group got to work on freeing Margaret. They quickly realized to do that they would have to lift the car off the road.
"I knew that the whole team with us, I knew we had an amazing chance to get her out," Martinez said. "The whole team was there, so we could do it."
"They reached in and moved me around because I couldn't get my legs out and they just moved me around and pulled me out," said Margaret. "You don't see that often. They did it willingly, they're heroes."
Slowly but surely the team was able to come together to lift the car off the ground and up onto its side, allowing the woman to get out.
"It was heavy, it was hard," Martinez said. "Even though we had everybody, I think it helped that we had everybody, it was really heavy."
The coaching staff says labeling themselves as being proud is an understatement.
"They just acted and they were just humanitarians," Jackson said. "They just did what they had to do. They were heroic, and then they moved on."
The team says they were just doing what was right.
"We've been taught to be selfless and to help others and to be strong in all aspects of life," Martinez said.
The team says the victory on the field was great, but the victory on the side of the road was even better.
"Even though we did win the championship, we did save lives and it's a great feeling both ways," Martinez said.
And Coach Jackson agrees.
"They acted on pure heart and passion and just wanted to be selfless and help these people to make sure they were okay," he said. "That sets standards high - If you're not living up to that, this isn't for you."
On Thursday night, the team met with Alan and Margaret. It was an emotional reunion that the couple says they will never forget.
Alan suffered three broken ribs and an injured shoulder in the crash. Margaret also had broken ribs.