High School Athletes Pay Tribute to Teammates of Happier Times

High school quarterback Ernest Vidaure looked at the white cloth tape stuck to the back of his blue helmet.

Written there was “John R., Michael R., Erik M., Ryan M., John I., Michael C. In loving memory.”

Then he looked around at the fatigued, sweaty faces of his teammates and stomped his cleats into the dried brown grass.

It was more than just a preseason scrimmage. It was the first chance for Jarrell High School players to pay tribute to six of their teammates killed with 21 others when a tornado swept through a subdivision May 27.

“Erik [doesn’t] get to get tired anymore. Suck it up,” Vidaure yelled, slapping his helmet.

On the first play, running back Matt Kitchens broke up the middle for a 70-yard touchdown. As his teammates celebrated, Kitchens looked upward, beyond the slightly bent goal post in the south end zone, and pointed his finger to the sky.

“I told John that was for him,” Kitchens said. “He was a big buddy of mine, the funniest, nicest guy. It’s been really hard not having him and the other guys around. They were supposed to be here.”

The team will dedicate its entire season to the dead teenagers, starting with the opener against Bruceville-Eddy on Friday.

John Ruiz and Erik Moehring would have been on the varsity this season for the first time, both contending for a starting position at wide receiver. Michael Ruiz, John’s brother, and Ryan Moehring, Erik’s brother, as well as John Igo and Michael Carmona would have been junior varsity.

“This year, everybody is playing as hard as we can because we have some friends who don’t get to play anymore,” Vidaure said.

Back in May, as the wind gusted and the sky turned a wet charcoal, the Ruiz brothers stopped shooting baskets at the high school gym and returned to the family’s trailer.

With a tornado warning in effect, they did what they thought would be safe and went to the Moehrings’ house, a larger, two-story structure. The home was destroyed and all four boys were killed. The Ruiz trailer was undamaged.

John Igo died as he ran to his house with his family to escape the storm. Carmona was killed at home when the tornado ripped through the farm town of about 1,000, set on rolling prairie about 40 miles north of Austin.

The twister smashed through the Double Creek Estates subdivision, destroying about 50 houses. A tornado alarm sounded before the devastating wind sent residents running for their lives.

Many headed home to be with their families. It cost them their lives.

Slowly, the houses that were sucked into the sky are being rebuilt and the town is moving forward.

“We are just carrying on as normally as we can,” said head coach Tracy Burke. “These kids were very dear friends of our athletes, and we knew them as coaches. We miss them not being in practice and not seeing them around.”

Jarrell’s football team was 3-7 last year. Burke hopes the team can contend for the playoffs this year.

Vidaure said the team is considering a formal helmet sticker or jersey patch to memorialize its fallen members.

“The past few years, Jarrell really hasn’t been a great football team,” Vidaure said. “This season, we are lot closer and we are playing a lot more like a team. . . . But our whole season is for the guys we lost, and they will be right there with us every step of the way.”