At 12:49 a.m. early Sunday morning, 42 minutes after the final buzzer sounded in No. 9 BYU’s wild 22-21 victory over Utah, Cougars defensive back Raider Damuni posted a photo on X of players celebrating in the locker room, with the shot focused on him and defensive coordinator Jay Hill, who was holding a sign bordered in gold glitter that read, “Beat Utah!! You can do it!!” in blue letters with a thumbs up emoji.

Damuni captioned the post, “FOR OUR BOI JOEY,” and added a hang loose emoji and a fire emoji.

Seventeen minutes later, the official BYU Football X account posted a 10-second video of that scene.

As Cougar players were bumping to rapper Bankroll Fresh’s song “Take Over Your Trap,” Hill held up the sign and bumped along.

Earlier in the week before Saturday’s matchup, the Cougars had hosted 5 year-old Joey Mecham as part of the team’s “True Blue Hero” program.

According to a report from KSL Sports’ Mitch Harper last Thursday, Mecham was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of cancer, last month.

As the team — 123 players deep — presented Mecham with the many gifts that have become a customary part of the “True Blue Hero” program (emceed by linebacker Harrison Taggart), the youngster looked perhaps understandably overwhelmed by the moment, save for several moments when he held up a “hang loose” sign with his own hand.

That is until mascot Cosmo the Cougar showed up. After Cosmo did a few brief tricks, Mecham’s father Brett whispered to Taggart that Joey had a trick himself.

“Joey’s says he’s got a trick,” Taggart announced, and the kid confidently hopped off the chair he’d been sitting on, made sure one of the BYU hats he had just been given was secure on his head and then performed a cartwheel with a coat on, right in the direction of where Cougars head coach Kalani Sitake was standing.

The execution may not have been perfect, but the team erupted, with Sitake jumping up and down and pumping his fists, and Joey and Cosmo embraced in a hug.

At the conclusion of the gifts presentation, Brett Mecham pulled out a poster and had his son help unveil it to the team. It was the poster that was later seen in the team’s postgame celebration early Sunday.

As Joey Mecham held up the poster for the team to see, he yelled, “Beat Utah!” and the team erupted in cheers once again.

In a post on X Friday morning, Brett Mecham wrote that the team asked Joey to sign the poster and that it was hung in the locker room.

As noted by his dad on X, Joey Mecham also got a shout out from Jarom Jordan and Spencer Linton on BYUtv Sports Nation, to which he commented, “I can’t believe I was on TV! Rise and Shout the Joey is Out!”

On Sunday morning, BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe posted on X, quoting a post from Brett Mecham of Joey performing his cartwheel, and wrote, “During the last drive of the Utah game, this beautiful experience came to my mind. Don’t stop believing Cougs! Don’t stop believing Joey!,” and he added a heart emoji at the end.