MANCHESTER, Ga. — The Manchester High School Blue Devils took the field Monday night in the 1-A Division 2 state championship football game. Their hearts were heavy -- after one of their teammates was found dead Sunday in the Meriwether County town.
Brandon Smith's teammates played for the state title at Mercedes-Benz Stadium while also mourning the loss of a 17-year-old who was described by the school district as a "loyal teammate and friend who excelled on and off the field" who will "be deeply missed."
At the game, Smith's team honored and remembered him with a special tribute-- where the team's captains brought his jersey out to the 50-yard line.
“He helped people," his grandmother Maxine Smith told 11Alive's Tracey Amick-Peer.
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Maxine Smith said her grandson was kind and that he loved his family and football.
“They took my baby from me. My heart is broken," she said.
Smith said Brandon was missing for days, after he didn't come home Thursday night.
"I woke up Friday morning and I knew he was gone. So I’m up, kept calling his cellphone, couldn't find him, couldn’t find him, so I called the school," she said.
She added that Brandon’s football coach, Stephen Holmes, was the one to tell her on Sunday that her grandson's body had been found near 3rd Street in Manchester.
"He told me my baby, my baby gone," she said.
Smith said it's her understanding that Brandon was shot multiple times. The Meriwether County coroner said they have not confirmed his cause of death but that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation will be conducting an autopsy on Smith on Tuesday.
His uncle shared that he would never want to miss this championship game.
"This game meant everything to him and his teammates," he said.
His family is now left to hope that his killer is found.
And Monday night, as the Manchester Blue Devils take the field without Brandon, his grandmother has a message for his football team.
“I hope his football team wins tonight on his behalf," she said.
Holmes said they will run out holding his jersey as they take the field -- and they will be playing for Brandon.
So far, police have not released any further information on the investigation and search for a killer.