SEVERANCE — Matthew Van Praag spoke from a broken heart, shards scraping his soul.

“No one in the country has been through what we’ve been through,” the coach told his Evergreen High School football team . “Everybody has your back. Everybody.”

His Cougars leaned closer. It was 15 minutes to 7 p.m. About a half-hour earlier, they warmed up at Severance High School’s football stadium under low clouds, shaking off three weeks of rust and two weeks of angst while mosquitoes nipped at their calves.

Van Praag was going over film with his quarterbacks inside Evergreen High on Sept. 10 when he heard shots down the hall . A gunman had opened fire inside the building, wounding two students before taking his own life.

Friday night was the Cougars’ first game back. Their coach took a deep br

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