Monday, Sept. 15, 2003 | 9:32 a.m.
Two weeks of pain finally numbed in the Boulder City end zone Friday night. It all but disappeared after the game in the Eagles' locker room, full of boisterous song, funky dance and sweet release.
The Boulder City football team accepts that it can do nothing to bring back Johnny Aquino, its starting center, leader, and friend. Aquino, 17, died Aug. 31, possibly from a drug overdose, stinging the insular community situated between Las Vegas and Hoover Dam.
Yet a convincing 35-14 win against Faith Lutheran began to salve the wounds created by Aquino's death. Football, the team understands, is catharsis.
"Football's been kind of the savior of all of us," Eagles coach Jeff Knutson said.
It becomes that much easier when Shane Stemmer hauls in three touchdown passes and the Eagles are never in danger of losing the game. It is the fun that Boulder City did not get to experience in its first game after Aquino's death, a Sept. 5 home loss to Mohave (Ariz.)
Accomplishing the goal of winning makes it easier for everyone to focus on the future.
"Johnny was a great guy and we all miss him," Boulder City senior lineman Tom Wood said. "But you've got to move on. That's the only way to look at it. What's happened has happened."
The victorious joy of the players is obvious to the parents in the stands. Helen Richter has two children attending Boulder City High School, both of whom attended Aquino's funeral to try to accept what happened.
"It was just so surreal for them," Richter said. "At the funeral, the kids would go and they just couldn't believe it was their friend, their schoolmate."
Clad in blue and gold beads over her Boulder City football T-shirt, Richter is one of the loudest voices in the stands cheering on the Eagles as they handle the Crusaders. Calling the game "totally different than last week," Richter feels that between the lines is the best place for the teenagers to keep living.
"Sports helps them so much," Richter said. "This really just boosts them up, helps them get back into something normal."
Normal is being redefined in Boulder City as the team and the community question whether drugs claimed the life of one of the school's most popular students and teammates. Knutson feels that his players, while closer to the situation than anyone else in school, are also equipped with the best tool to move into the rest of the season -- and of their lives.
"It's just a good life lesson," Knutson said. "You're going to face adversity in life. It's not whether or not you face it. It's what you do about it, how you react to it."
The Eagles finally got to react the way they wanted to -- celebrating touchdowns, high-fiving after sacks, and hearing the cheers of a community happy to have something to get excited about.
After two weeks of uncertainty and sadness, it finally felt like Friday night under the stadium lights again.
"It was good to get back to usual sort of things," Wood said.
On his 40th birthday, as he celebrated life with friends and family, Knutson enjoyed seeing his team look like itself -- even without Aquino.
"I wouldn't call it behind us -- it will never be behind us -- but it's good that we're getting spirited," Knutson said.
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