FREMONT – The Clay quarterback wasn’t the only thing the Ross football team was rushing to Friday night.
Ben Rozzell smiles on the sideline of Ross’ win over Clay Friday night. RSR/Tony Zimmerman
The Little Giants were also rushing to the rest room.
In addition to battling the Clay Eagles, Ross had a nasty bout with food poisoning stemming from its pregame team meal. As many as 20 Little Giants were effected, with some getting sick on the sideline and others who had to be hospitalized before Ross’ 28-23 win was over.
“There was a lot of ralphing, a lot of people running to the bathroom,” coach Chad Long said.
“Some of the kids started getting it right at the beginning. Coach Jalen Slick, right from the beginning was running to the bathroom. We had to take him to the hospital. Ethan Chumley, we’d like to get him in the run game, but he had to go to the hospital in an ambulance.”
The suspected culprit of the illness is roast beef sandwiches. The effects didn’t begin to show themselves until right around kickoff and they continued throughout the night.
“They were throwing up, puking all night. It was bad,” said running Chrystjan Mancini. “We had 17 people that threw up. There were in the bathroom all at halftime, trash cans all around the lockerroom.”
Senior linebacker Ben Rozzell said he tried to ignore his teammates’ distress, though it was difficult at halftime.
“I tried not to pay attention to it, but you go through those lockerroom doors and everybody was in there puking. Two people were puking the same trash can. (It’s) a lot of adversity. “
Despite that adversity, the Little Giants had no choice but to push through it.
“You just have to go with it,” Rozzell said. “You can’t be coached on that, you just have to find it inside of you and go with it. It was crazy. It was bad.”
As if the food poisoning wasn’t bad enough, the Little Giants were shorthanded even moreso late in the third quarter when senior wide receiver, Roger Burling, the team’s leading pass-catcher left the game with a shoulder injury.
It made Long even more proud of his team for battling through and getting the victory rather than letting the obstacles get the best of them.
“There was a lot of things that happened and it was continually, the entire game,” Long said. “Kids in and out. It was a lot of adversity. You got one of your best players, Roger Burling, breaks his collarbone, people puking. Crazy night. It was a crazy game, absolutely.”