High school team dominates on the field after deadly fire destroyed their homes
By
Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Nov 21, 2019 7:00 AM EDT
The varsity football team in Paradise is defending their undefeated season in a playoff run, just one year after a wildfire nearly wiped the Northern California town off the map. AccuWeather’s Bill Wadell watched the game with moms on both sides of the field, who are rooting for the Bobcats.
To rise from the ashes would imply that they were ever beaten down in the first place. However, a group of young men in California has refused to let tragedy leave them hopeless, even if they've been left homeless.
While their town continues to embark on a lengthy rebuild, the Paradise High School football squad never let its dominant, on-field production slip. Just one year after the Camp Fire decimated the region, the Paradise Bobcats have given the area hope.
Along with most of their city, the majority of the players on the team were forced to relocate after the disaster. According to National Public Radio (NPR), just 3,000 residents of the previous 27,000 Paradise have returned to live there full-time. Tony Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times reports that only three players on the 39-man team currently live in Paradise.
Paradise High School head football coach Rick Prinz, center, celebrates with his team after defeating Live Oak High School, 56-0, in their Northern California Division III playoff game in Paradise, Calif., Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. The Paradise High Bobcats had an undefeated season and made it to the playoffs a year after the deadliest wildfire in California history that killed dozens and destroyed nearly 19,000 buildings including the homes of most of the players. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Yet at the team's first game of the season, nearly 5,000 fans came out to support the squad.
"It's just great seeing everyone here and hearing all the stories with where everyone is at," Karah Johnson, a mother of a Bobcats football player, told AccuWeather's National Weather Reporter Bill Wadell. "The football team brought a lot of people back. There wasn't that many people here, and then they had their games and it filled up here and its been like that ever since."
After last season's schedule was cut short, practices started up again back in January and were held in a temporary warehouse facility at the Chico airport.
The Camp Fire claimed 86 lives, burned more than 150,000 acres and destroyed four different school campuses in the Paradise Unified School District. Some graduating seniors from the Paradise Class of 2019 were forced to finish their last semester at a different location or via online classes, former principal Loren Lighthall said after the disaster.
Lighthall was forced to step away from his job as a principal in order to restart life 200 miles away from the traumatic wildfire experience that destroyed his family's home and scarred their memories of Paradise.
Sean Newsom, a senior at Paradise High School, poses in his cap and gown at the burnout ruins of his home in Paradise, Calif., Wednesday, June 5, 2019. After the Camp Fire destroyed the home, his parents relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, and Newsom moved to an apartment with his older brother in Chico to finish his senior year. Newsom and the rest of the Paradise High School Class of 2019 are graduating Thursday. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Even the trees that once surrounded the Bobcats' field were destroyed in the fire, exposing fans to brutal heat pounding on the metal bleachers.
When all had seemed sentenced to a painful cycle of loss and recovery, the success of the school’s football team this season has been a beacon of hope and of home.
“The field itself is the most thing that's felt like home since the fire," senior Kasten Ortiz, who plays right tackle on the offense, told NPR. "You see just flat lots in town. But I think when we step foot on this field and we see the green grass, we see each other padded up, it feels right at home ... we feel like a family out here."
Paradise High School football team members carry a banner presented to them from the visiting Williams High School team before their game in Paradise, Calif., Friday, Aug. 23, 2019. This was the first game for the school since a wildfire last year that killed dozens and destroyed nearly 19,000 buildings including the homes of most of the players. Paradise won 42-0. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
The season began with a goal of making a championship run, which the team has since embarked upon with dominant success. After finishing the regular season 10-0 and thumping rival Like Oak 56-0 in the first round of the playoffs, the Bobcats will face top-seeded West Valley on Nov. 22.
The Paradise Bobcats beat rival Live Oak 56-0 in the CIF Northern California Section Division III playoff game in Paradise, Calif., Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. (AccuWeather/Bill Wadell)
Those successes have breathed life back into the suffering town. After the team's first game, coach Rick Prinz encouraged his team to remember how far they had come in such a short time.
“We started back last January, down in Chico, at the airport. We had no facilities; we didn’t even have a football," he said. "We went out on the gravel field to run plays, remember? 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."
Now, over 10 months after those initial practices, Paradise has not only a team to put on the field but a winning product worth celebrating by their thousands of fans. In their 10 regular-season wins before shutting out Live Oak, seven of those victories were won by at least 41 points.
Paradise High School's Lukas Hartley, center, runs into the end zone for a touchdown against Live Oak HIGH School during the second half of their CIF Northern California Section Division III playoff game in Paradise, Calif., Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. Paradise beat Live Oak, 56-0, a year after the deadliest wildfire in California history that killed dozens and destroyed nearly 19,000 buildings including the homes of most of the players. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
As the team heads into the Northern Section Division 3 championship game, it may have to play without six of its starters after a controversial scuffle in last week's game resulted in suspensions. An unbreakable bond between teammates led many of them to defend and protect each other during the game against Live Oak. Unfortunately for Paradise, the ramifications from the California Interscholastic Federation may force them to play shorthanded.
“We know the letter of the law, but we’re hoping they look at intent,” Prinz said. “Our players weren’t going out to fight; they were going out to keep their teammates out of trouble. Their intent was to take care of each other.”
The Paradise Bobcats celebrate their win against Live Oak in the CIF Northern California Section Division III playoff game in Paradise, Calif., Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. (AccuWeather/Bill Wadell)
But despite what transpires in this weekend's game, the team has undeniably ushered hope back into its suffering hometown. Senior quarterback Danny Bettencourt said the suspensions just add more fuel to the team's proverbial fire in light of the hurdles they have faced in the past 12 months.
It certainly wouldn't be the team's first fire.
Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Severe Weather
High school team dominates on the field after deadly fire destroyed their homes
By Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Nov 21, 2019 7:00 AM EDT
The varsity football team in Paradise is defending their undefeated season in a playoff run, just one year after a wildfire nearly wiped the Northern California town off the map. AccuWeather’s Bill Wadell watched the game with moms on both sides of the field, who are rooting for the Bobcats.
To rise from the ashes would imply that they were ever beaten down in the first place. However, a group of young men in California has refused to let tragedy leave them hopeless, even if they've been left homeless.
While their town continues to embark on a lengthy rebuild, the Paradise High School football squad never let its dominant, on-field production slip. Just one year after the Camp Fire decimated the region, the Paradise Bobcats have given the area hope.
Along with most of their city, the majority of the players on the team were forced to relocate after the disaster. According to National Public Radio (NPR), just 3,000 residents of the previous 27,000 Paradise have returned to live there full-time. Tony Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times reports that only three players on the 39-man team currently live in Paradise.
Paradise High School head football coach Rick Prinz, center, celebrates with his team after defeating Live Oak High School, 56-0, in their Northern California Division III playoff game in Paradise, Calif., Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. The Paradise High Bobcats had an undefeated season and made it to the playoffs a year after the deadliest wildfire in California history that killed dozens and destroyed nearly 19,000 buildings including the homes of most of the players. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Yet at the team's first game of the season, nearly 5,000 fans came out to support the squad.
"It's just great seeing everyone here and hearing all the stories with where everyone is at," Karah Johnson, a mother of a Bobcats football player, told AccuWeather's National Weather Reporter Bill Wadell. "The football team brought a lot of people back. There wasn't that many people here, and then they had their games and it filled up here and its been like that ever since."
After last season's schedule was cut short, practices started up again back in January and were held in a temporary warehouse facility at the Chico airport.
The Camp Fire claimed 86 lives, burned more than 150,000 acres and destroyed four different school campuses in the Paradise Unified School District. Some graduating seniors from the Paradise Class of 2019 were forced to finish their last semester at a different location or via online classes, former principal Loren Lighthall said after the disaster.
Lighthall was forced to step away from his job as a principal in order to restart life 200 miles away from the traumatic wildfire experience that destroyed his family's home and scarred their memories of Paradise.
Sean Newsom, a senior at Paradise High School, poses in his cap and gown at the burnout ruins of his home in Paradise, Calif., Wednesday, June 5, 2019. After the Camp Fire destroyed the home, his parents relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, and Newsom moved to an apartment with his older brother in Chico to finish his senior year. Newsom and the rest of the Paradise High School Class of 2019 are graduating Thursday. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Even the trees that once surrounded the Bobcats' field were destroyed in the fire, exposing fans to brutal heat pounding on the metal bleachers.
When all had seemed sentenced to a painful cycle of loss and recovery, the success of the school’s football team this season has been a beacon of hope and of home.
“The field itself is the most thing that's felt like home since the fire," senior Kasten Ortiz, who plays right tackle on the offense, told NPR. "You see just flat lots in town. But I think when we step foot on this field and we see the green grass, we see each other padded up, it feels right at home ... we feel like a family out here."
Paradise High School football team members carry a banner presented to them from the visiting Williams High School team before their game in Paradise, Calif., Friday, Aug. 23, 2019. This was the first game for the school since a wildfire last year that killed dozens and destroyed nearly 19,000 buildings including the homes of most of the players. Paradise won 42-0. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
The season began with a goal of making a championship run, which the team has since embarked upon with dominant success. After finishing the regular season 10-0 and thumping rival Like Oak 56-0 in the first round of the playoffs, the Bobcats will face top-seeded West Valley on Nov. 22.
The Paradise Bobcats beat rival Live Oak 56-0 in the CIF Northern California Section Division III playoff game in Paradise, Calif., Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. (AccuWeather/Bill Wadell)
Those successes have breathed life back into the suffering town. After the team's first game, coach Rick Prinz encouraged his team to remember how far they had come in such a short time.
“We started back last January, down in Chico, at the airport. We had no facilities; we didn’t even have a football," he said. "We went out on the gravel field to run plays, remember? 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."
Now, over 10 months after those initial practices, Paradise has not only a team to put on the field but a winning product worth celebrating by their thousands of fans. In their 10 regular-season wins before shutting out Live Oak, seven of those victories were won by at least 41 points.
Paradise High School's Lukas Hartley, center, runs into the end zone for a touchdown against Live Oak HIGH School during the second half of their CIF Northern California Section Division III playoff game in Paradise, Calif., Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. Paradise beat Live Oak, 56-0, a year after the deadliest wildfire in California history that killed dozens and destroyed nearly 19,000 buildings including the homes of most of the players. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
As the team heads into the Northern Section Division 3 championship game, it may have to play without six of its starters after a controversial scuffle in last week's game resulted in suspensions. An unbreakable bond between teammates led many of them to defend and protect each other during the game against Live Oak. Unfortunately for Paradise, the ramifications from the California Interscholastic Federation may force them to play shorthanded.
“We know the letter of the law, but we’re hoping they look at intent,” Prinz said. “Our players weren’t going out to fight; they were going out to keep their teammates out of trouble. Their intent was to take care of each other.”
The Paradise Bobcats celebrate their win against Live Oak in the CIF Northern California Section Division III playoff game in Paradise, Calif., Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. (AccuWeather/Bill Wadell)
But despite what transpires in this weekend's game, the team has undeniably ushered hope back into its suffering hometown. Senior quarterback Danny Bettencourt said the suspensions just add more fuel to the team's proverbial fire in light of the hurdles they have faced in the past 12 months.
It certainly wouldn't be the team's first fire.
Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo