'It was a night of hitting and healing, of howls and tears, filled with both mourning and magic ... It ended as a night when a decimated mountain community and its beloved football team came together for one more roaring proclamation of life.'
They arrived four hours early, sat under a broiling sun, cheered deep into the night, and didn’t want to leave, so when Prinz saw them standing along with family and friends outside his postgame meeting, he had an idea. He brought his kids over to the crowd to create a most unusual, yet completely fitting, giant group hug.
“Sooner or later, God’ll cut you down,” crooned Johnny Cash from a CD being played over the Om Wraith Field loudspeakers. “Sooner or later, God’ll cut you down.” The march took the Bobcats through a sea of fans filling the ancient Om Wraith Field bleachers and lining the end zones, folks who were also experiencing their own new football normal.
Even the stadium entertainment had taken a hit. The mighty Paradise pep band now numbers just 19 musicians, about half of its previous size. They have three tubas but just one trumpet, and one of the drummers is now longtime music teacher Bob Schofield.That was the attitude adopted by the crowd when the sound system shut down while a couple of students were singing the national anthem. The fans picked up the tune and finished crooning the anthem themselves.
“We started back last January, down in Chico, at the airport, we had no facilities, we didn’t even have a football … we went out on the gravel field to run plays, remember?” he told them as they knelt together on the field Thursday night. “That was a tough time because, in my heart, I didn’t even know if we would have a football team. … I didn’t know if I’d have a job next year at Paradise High School … it was tough.
”I don’t want no sympathy,” said lineman Elijah Gould. “I want them to come to take off our heads because that’s what we’re coming to do.” The only thing that isn’t new is Bobcat football, and that is why Weldon showed up simply to stand alone in the parking lot.An impromptu tailgater arrived soon thereafter, setting up in an adjoining vacant lot where there once stood a church. Matt Madden, a Chico police officer who used to coach in Paradise, threw up a tent and fired up a grill and waited for somebody to show up. He didn’t know if anybody would show up.
“Don’t come to the mountain!’’ they chanted before the game, and then they proved it to the smaller Yellowjackets by knocking them all over the field.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
I paid more than $600 to spend a weekend at adult summer camp—here's why it was worth every pennyI spent a weekend at Club Getaway, which offers adult summer camp programs on weekends throughout the summer. Here's everything I did over the course of three days.
Read more »
The Latest: Football team wins 1st game after 2018 fireParadise defeats Williams High School 42-0 at Om Wraith Field in front of thousands of people that packed the stadium. For many, it was one of the few times they returned to the Northern California town after 2018 wildfire that killed 86.
Read more »
Hong Kong protests met with tear gas; China frees UK mission stafferHong Kong police used tear gas to break up protests after activists threw petrol bombs and bricks
Read more »
Hong Kong police briefly turn water cannon on protesters, fire tear gasHong Kong police briefly turn water cannon on protesters, fire tear gas by jamespomfret JessiePang0125
Read more »
Hong Kong police turn water cannon on protesters, fire tear gasHong Kong police fired tear gas to break up anti-government protests in an industrial suburb after activists threw petrol bombs and bricks. More here:
Read more »