This is unfortunately my last story for the Holy Family Newspaper class that Mr. Yunt had the opportunity to teach and to talk to. Today was also the last real day of our High School days. Sure, there will be graduation, and the grad parties and many senior trips with your closest friends. But it will never be the same because you’re not going to see the same group of people ever again in the same place with the same circumstances. I technically am not making this story because it has a due date or anything like that, but I am simply bored after studying for my Trig final that I have to take tomorrow and I am procrastinating doing anything else and I figured why not write one last story as one last Hoorah for the Newspaper Class of 2025.
There are a lot of different people within this senior class and it has certainly shrunk since the day we started our freshman year. But within it there is also a lot of memories as well as a TON of camaraderie. Freshman year was an absolute blurr, it seems like I can only remember a few memories. One of them being our freshman retreat which was a horrible idea to have a bunch of freshmen running around the school at night and to sleep over. Its easy to say that our old Security Guard/Chemistry Teacher/Part time football coach/I don’t even know, was definitely thrown for a loop that night with a bunch of shirtless freshman boys running around the halls of our school late at night. Not to mention when we were playing with the pop-up football tackle dummies on the grass practice field and Cam tackled the bag and a girl walked behind it right as he got to the bag and he tackled her and the bag, ultimately dislocating her knee I believe while Fr. Joe calmly walked over and said, “Oh yeah that looks messed up, we should call the ambulance.” And we ultimately messed around the rest of that night and I don’t think any of us got any amount of sleep.
I remember the famous Ben Baker Break, it wasn’t even our first football game it was the pre-season scrimmage and Ben was practically tugging at the coaches shirt asking to go in. Eventually, Coach broke and let Ben go in and the second play in he and one our teammates sandwiched the opposing player of the team and we heard the most horrified scream I have ever heard. It turns out Ben broke his Femur; we all couldn’t believe it at first and then our trainer walked out and was helping Ben as much as he could until the ambulance showed up. We were all following the ambulance up the concrete ramp into Mike G. Gabriel Stadium and Ben who was there in the moment but due to the medications that they gave him he wasn’t there. His last words he said before they closed the ambulance doors was “Thanks for putting me in Coach!”
There was also Freshman year Homecoming, which was an experience within itself. The awkwardness of the guys attempting to ask all the girls to the dance and then getting to the dance and not knowing what do to.
Then there was sophomore year, we all got to meet the infamous Bill Hanzlik when he came to our school to visit and promote his pursuit to spread happiness. It was so cool to meet the guy who was on the poster in my room and actually shake his hand and have a really good conversation with him. This was also the year that I got pulled up to varsity halfway through my sophomore year due to half of our O-Line being ill, and man was I terrified Coach Dodero if you know the guy you know what I am talking about. He is absolutely terrifying when you first meet him, and him screaming at you to move your feet faster off the ball is a pretty big motivator to do well. We then had our sophomore retreat where we walked for what felt like ages to a park where we played basketball and us lineman practiced our pass blocking techniques in a game of “two hand touch” Football. Speaking of our football season we unfortunately lost in the first round of playoffs against George Washington and their I wanna bet 400 pound center.
And for a big twist of events in our sophomore year, it was about our second or third last basketball game of the season for our JV team which I played on. The guy on their team went up to make a layup and I went to block it and someone undercut my legs and I twisted mid-air and ultimately landed on my straight right arm. Ryan Grable offered me help up and I stuck my arm up and it was all twisted and broken. I had ultimately broken my arm and the bone in my arm twisted when I broke it! So after a long night in the urgent care in Parker they had moved my arm to mostly straight. I now have a fixed arm with a metal plate and 11 screws in my right arm, which I think was ultimately a sign from the man upstairs to hang up basketball and to focus on my football career, and that’s exactly what I did.
After long and strenuous summer workouts and plenty of hot days of seeing who could run the fastest 300 yard time, junior year rolled around the corner and I was determined to work towards a State Championship! One of our first games I had a extravagant game and some even cooler pictures! (Credit to Mrs. Van Dale) I started really diving into my first car which is a Golden 1999 Ford F-150 which you may or may not have seen in the teacher parking spots occasionally. But I started to really work on my truck and fix it as time went on. I remember the Batman mask that Aaron brought to school and everyone tried on in Ryan’s training room to which I am sure he absolutely loved that. And there was a huge sense of camaraderie that I could feel with the team as we grew closer at every team dinner we had and soon enough we met Lutheran High School on the CSU-Pueblo field at the State Championship! I would like to say that it was a tough game but our 33-8 score says otherwise as we absolutely steamrolled them! I remember coming back into Mr. Yunt’s journalism class and taking a picture with him holding the trophy. We got honored on the field of Mile High Stadium for winning our championship which was such a cool experience as we got to watch the game after too! We got our rings and have our banner hung claiming us to be the 2023 State Champions! Then came the colleges attempting to recruit me for football and one of the first ones interested was DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana! To which now I am committed to play football for them this next year!
Junior Summer was a fun one as well, I took my buddy Qynton with me to Lake McConoughay where we had tons of fun on the beach, built a teepee out of old and dead trees and watched a Tractor/Combine Demolition Derby!
Then came Senior year, this one is one that seems to surreal to even type into this story. This year has absolutely flown by, we were always told that it would but you never realize that till your there. Taking your Senior Pictures, our Football season didn’t go as planned. We had our Kairos trip as Senior leaders this year which also brought me so much closer to the Lord as I went a second time but now a senior leader and offered a speech. We did the ESPN Sports desk for our basketball teams last playoff game which was absolutely epic. Our Soccer team won a State Championship with Jesus Molina scoring the winning goal. Bradley won a Corvette after putting in for a $5 entry! Now were graduating… WHAT!?
Overall, my high school experience was something that I will never forget. For some advice for anyone that reads this, especially the upcoming seniors as well as the underclassman at Holy Family. Do everything you can here while you can, you will only get out of this place what you put in. There are so many different things I could say to help guide you but one main thing is to go outside of your comfort zone. If you only do what you can do, you will never become more than you are now.
I want to give thanks to everyone who has supported me here at Holy Family, if I were to make a list I know I would leave someone out so you know who you are, Thank You. This is the knee brace wearing, Forrest Gump Impersonating, Right Offensive Tackle of the Class of 2025 – Mason Ochs signing off of the Holy Family Lamp Post one last time. Thank you for reading and God Bless.
