Sadly, in our world, senseless killings happen every day.

When such acts enter the local sports world, it hits home a little more.

Knoch High School and Washington & Jefferson College running back Tim McNerney was murdered during the Presidents’ collegiate football season last fall.

Former Slippery Rock University middle linebacker and team captain Zach Sheridan was murdered last weekend.

McNerney had his life taken as part of a petty robbery attempt. Sheridan lost his life after a verbal argument.

Senseless waste. No other way to describe it.

Both of these tragedies occurred in the wee hours of the morning. Neither man was looking for trouble.

Neither McNerney nor Sheridan deserved to leave this life the way they did.

They were leaders on their respective teams and their names can be found in the football record books at their respective schools.

This is not to condemn anyone choosing to go out in the public anytime past midnight. These were young people out enjoying life with friends.

They certainly shouldn’t have had to worry about their lives being in danger while doing so.

Neither was involved in any crazy act here.

The group of guys who beat up McNerney and the guy who gunned down Sheridan did the unfathomable, crazy stuff.

Now arrests have been made in both cases. Murder charges will be played out and the guilty parties will get their punishment.

It will be good to see the perpetrators of these crimes pay the price.

Justice, however, will not be served.

McNerney and Sheridan cannot be brought back.

People like them are supposed to go on to successful, productive lives in adulthood. They had the character and personalities to do great things in life, just like they did on the football field.

Leaders on sports teams often become leaders in the business world or in the community.

They just have that trait.

It’s hard to understand or accept the fact that they’re not here anymore.

Their parents, families and friends are living a nightmare in that regard.

McNerney and Sheridan did leave a lasting lesson to the rest of us during their abbreviated stay on earth, however.

Find your potential and reach it. Be a leader. Help others. Give the best you’ve got to give at all times.

Because time is guaranteed to none of us.

The parents of this pair can be proud that their sons did all of those things.

The way their lives ended is cruel, horrid, disturbing and impossible to justify.

We don’t have to understand it.

We do have to deal with it.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle