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Prayers go on, sometimes out of sight, in prep football

WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Surrounded by a slew of players with their arms draped over shoulders, West Bloomfield High School assistant coach Justin Ibe bowed his head and led a Christian prayer before a recent Friday night game.

Forty yards down the sideline, three Muslim young men were having a quiet moment of their own.

“Ameen,” the players quietly said, using the Arabic word for amen.

Across America, most high school football seasons are winding down. Thousands of games, the first since the Supreme Court in June ruled it was OK for a public school coach near Seattle to pray on the field.