Let’s celebrate “Heated Rivalry” star Connor Storrie’s 26th birthday with one of his early films, “Riley”

This terrific movie, Riley, showed up on my YouTube feed a few weeks ago and I watched it over a few days. A long-haired Connor Storrie has a supporting role in the 2023 film as an openly gay high school student who teams with one of the school’s closeted football stars on a school project.

Here’s the plot: The life of a disciplined high school athlete (portrayed beautifully by an outstanding Jake Holley) begins to unravel when his queer identity competes against the idea of who he was supposed to be.

This tender film, written and directed by Benjamin Howard, really moved me.