SLIPPERY ROCK — Bryce Bennett and Sophia Coffaro will never play basketball.

They'll never dribble.

They'll never shoot.

They'll never get a steal or take a charge.

They'll never make a game-winning shot.

Yet the two, Bryce from Grove City and Sophia from Slippery Rock, are still a huge part of the Slippery Rock High girls basketball team.

Bryce, 10, has a very rare, genetic brain disorder caused by a mutated gene. It's progressive and there is no cure.

Bryce is confined to a wheelchair, unable to move. He has up to 100 seizures a day. He can't speak.

But those around the Slippery Rock girls basketball team have embraced him and Sophia. They believe Bryce is aware of what's going on around him.

“He knows. He knows love,” said Tara Codispot, Bryce's mother and a former standout basketball player at Slippery Rock. “He knows those girls are around. I would love to see what he would say.”

Sophia, who will turn 10 on March 30, is also confined to wheelchair with a severe case of Down syndrome and autism. She is the younger sister of Gina Coffaro, a freshman forward on the team.

Sophia has also become a integral part of the Rockets.

The players have rallied around the two.

After Slippery Rock beat Harbor Creek for the District 10 5A championship Saturday, senior Macy McCall made it a point to acknowledge their two biggest fans.

“Our buddies were here,” McCall said. “We definitely try to get it done for (them), for those people around us who can't do it. I just think while we're playing we have that in the back of our minds to not just do it for ourselves, but to do it for others and the community.”

Osborn is more proud of how her players treat Bryce and Sophia than all the games they have won this season.

“They see bigger than what is just happening on the court,” Osborn said.

Rob Coffaro, Sophia and Gina's father, said Sophia attends as many games as she can.

Sometimes, though, it's not possible for her to be there.

When she is there, he said the players make her feel welcome.

“It's really nice to know she's accepted and part of the team,” Rob said. “When we go places, we get looks and get stares. But those girls on the team aren't afraid to go up to her and they don't look at her as different. That means a lot.”

Osborn, who can be superstitious, makes it a point to seek out Sophia before the opening tip.

“I always have to go see her or touch her before games,” Osborn said. “If she isn't coming, then they always send me a video or a good-luck picture of her.”

Before the semifinal win against Warren, Osborn found a quarter lying heads-up in the locker room at Meadville High School.

She scooped it up, found Bryce, and tucked the quarter in his pocket for good luck.

Bryce has carried the quarter with him ever since.

“They've all really taken to Bryce,” said Codipsot, who has two other children with her husband, Jerry: Brooke, 7, and Paytyn, 5. “I feel like Amber is teaching these kids well beyond what a coach would teach. I feel like she's teaching these kids more important things than just basketball.”

Rob Coffaro, who also has two other children with his wife Kim, Gina, 15, and Julia, 13, echoed that.

“Amber has gone way out of the way to make us feel included,” he said. “It says a lot about her. She's a special person and a great coach and I think all the parents feel the same way that we are all lucky to have her as a coach of our kids.”

Rob Coffaro also said the players have shown their character by how well they interact with Bryce and Sophia.

“Those girls are truly something special,” he said. “Some of them have grown up with Gina and they've been around Sophia, but the other girls have come right up to Sophia to say hi. They're not afraid or awkward around her and that makes Sophia feel accepted.”

Slippery Rock will take on Thomas Jefferson in the first round of the PIAA 5A playoffs at 4 p.m. Saturday at Sharon High School.

Bryce will be there. Sophia may not.

They're always with the players in spirit, however.

“They have just taken to him,” Codispot said. “They don't get a lot back from Bryce and it's probably hard for a 16- or 17-year-old. He's not the kind of kid you see on ESPN with the NFL players. But I love watching them interact with him and it's genuine. It's love.”