There are losses and there is the pain of a season-ending defeat. But no team should have to go through what the Casa Roble football team from Orangevale (Calif.) had to endure Monday night in its home stadium.
Three days after its team ended a 7-5 season with a loss in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs, the field was filled with teammates in jerseys and the stands packed with family, fans and friends in the Sacramento suburb.
This was no postseason celebration.
The community mourned the death of senior lineman Julian Snyder who was killed in an automobile accident on Saturday night.
In a beautifully told tragedy by Sacramento Bee's longtime sports writer Joe Davidson, Snyder, described as a "gregarious kid," who loved to hug and loved to laugh, was a passenger in a multi-car collision. Snyder was ejected from the rollover, transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
It occurred just over 24 hours after the team's season-ending defeat, and 48 hours after the accident, Casa Roble's stadium filled to honor him, his teammates and coaches. There were speakers at the wake. The team's offensive line, which Julian was a member, hit the blocking sled one more time. And the team performed a very loud and emotional haka, a cultural dance.
Julian had a way to bring people together. He was all inclusive, his friends and coaches said, bonding all ages, races and genders. He was a powerful, magnetic force at the school, thus the turnout.
"I'm going to miss him," Casa Roble senior lineman and Julian's best friend Darren Dalton announced. "We'd always laugh. I'd do anything for him and I know he'd do anything for me."
Julian would also do anything for Casa Roble head coach Chris Horner, who was also his first-period math class. Julian was his personal assistant in class for three semesters, which led to an indelible bond, more so than a normal coach-player relationship.
That made Julian's passing even more emotional for the 25-year coach. He said he had no more tears to cry.
"I'm a crier, wear my emotion on my sleeves," Horner told Davidson. "It's something we tell our football players: It's OK to show emotions, to be sad that your friend is gone. We're tough, burly dudes in football who can let their guard down and be human."
In a Julian Snyder Memorial Fund page, Horner wrote of his special bond with Julian:
"He was my guy," he wrote. "I absolutely adored this kid. He was always in a good mood. He was always laughing and joking around. He was the guy that was always picking people up. He was the guy that if you ever heard someone say that they didn't like Julian Snyder, your first thought would be, what's wrong with you as a person? Because, Julian was the best! He was the absolute best.
"I am going to miss him terribly. Even though this is one of the worst things about being a coach and an educator, I wouldn't change a thing. I cherish the time I got to spend with Julian Snyder and feel blessed that I had the opportunity to cross paths with him."
Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.
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