On April 20, 1999, two deranged teenagers, named Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, led a massacre of their fellow students at Columbine High School. The two boys, who were armed with guns, bombs, and knives, slayed 12 students and 1 faculty member on that fateful day before committing suicide. This article, though, is not about the tragedy that occurred on that April day - rather, it involves a football team who would stop at nothing to remember the lost.
For nearly seven months after the shooting, the small town of Littleton, Colorado, was enshrouded with grief and sadness. Many people wondered if the town and the people would ever recover. However, at the onset of the 1999 high school football season, the people of Littleton united together around the team that had seen so much.
The Columbine Rebels, as they were called, were not expected to do much in the 1999 season. Not only was the grief an overwhelming factor on the whole town, but Columbine simply did not have the talent to do much. This was exemplified by the loss of two key players in the shooting. The first was Isaiah Shoels, a 4' 11' spark plug of a senior who coulld bench press twice his own weight. The other was 16-year old Matt Ketcher, a linebacker that wore No. 70 and anchored the team's defense. Many of the members of the team were extremely close to Ketcher, especially fellow linebacker Zach Rauzi, who went so far as to get a tattoo of his friend;s initials, MJK, and a cross on his arm. Though it seemed that this team would make no noise at all in regards to skill, there is one thing they truly did not lack - heart.
At the beginning of the season, the whole Columbine team dedicated the upcoming season to slain linebacker Matt Ketcher. "You're definitely motivated by Matt because he doesn't have the opportunity to do this and we do," said fellow linebacker Ryan Barrett, who was also Ketcher's best friend. "It's hard when you lose a person, and especially when they belong to a family like the team. We treat ourselves as brothers and when you lose a brother, it's pretty hard." added another member of the team E.R. Wolf. And it seemed that maybe Ketcher's spirit was with them through the whole year, as the Rebels survived the 9-game season and advanced to the Colorado state playoffs, going solely on heart and the dtermination to avenge the losses of their loved ones. This team was not fantastic, but it was a classic example of a group of teenagers tied together by the deep sacrifices that lay within. That team played "Rebelball," and they gave everything they had to win one for Littleton, Colorado.
Columbine was a large enough school to play in class 5A, where they met Rocky Mountain in the first round of the high school football playoffs. In classic Rebelball fashion, the Columbine faithful watched their squad grind out a 19-6 win to advance to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, though, it seemed that the dream season would all come to a close. Fairview High School of Boulder, Colorado, a football powerhouse, led the Rebels 17-0 in the fourth quarter. The Rebles on the bench and on the field prayed for a win, prayed that they could keep going for Matt and Isaiah and all the others who were killed. And, suddenly, a miracle came. Columbine, not wanting to let this fabtasy season die, and, hoping to unite their town around them, scored three straight touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull of an unprecedented 21-17 win. This set off a flurry of tears among nearly everyone in the stadium, fan or foe alike. The Rebels gathered in a circle, and through tears, chanted, "MJK! MJK! MJK!" Some believed that it was Ketcher's hand that guided the Rebels throughout the whole game. "After that game, I was speechless," Columbine coach Andy Lowry said. "I know God has a lot more important things to do than concern himself with a football te am, but it sure took some kind of divine intervention."
It had been an amazing win for the Rebels, but they still had two wins to go. Inspired by their fantastic quarterfinals victory, the Rebels went on to smash Ponderosa High, 26-8, to advance to the championship game. But it was this task that was the most daunting yet. There, Columbine would face Cherry Creek High School, who most certainly defined the word "dyansty." They were like the Patriots in the NFL, or the Yankees of major league baseball. The Cherry Creek team had already won 7 championships in the 1990s, and they were bidding for an eighth. It was the first time in history that the Columbine Rebels had ever played in a state championship game. To quote the movie 'Dodgeball', it was "a David and Goliath story truer than the Bible itself." There was no hope for the Rebels. But many in Littleton believed that just playing in the game was the spark they needed to regroup after the horrendous tragedy that defined Columbine High School. "The accomplishments of the footb all team are just one of the many that have helped in the healing process," noted Columbine High Principal Frank D'Angelis. "It's nice to see kids smiling and be kids again." But as D'Angelis adds, one football game cannot do everything. "I think we learn to cope, and I think time will heal, but we'll never forget the kids who lost their lives last year," D'Angelis said. "They'll always be with us, and I think the scars will be with us until the day we die." This may have been true, but that team of 16, 17, and 18 year-olds was determined to bring that trophy home to Littleton, Colorado.
In the championship game, which occurred in Denver, Colorado, the Rebels needed to muster one more win to bring home that championship. They started off hot, and never looked back, defeating Cherry Creek 21-14 in a nailbiter. It was over! The Columbine Rebels had won the state championship for Class 5A! But, as the people of Littleton will say to this day, it was so much more than a football game, or just a football team. That season began the healing process on a town that had seen so much, too much. It seems that fate saw that those kids needed something, anything, to get back on their feet, and fate may have just blessed that young football team to a state championship.
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