PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Football returned to Roxborough High School in Northwest Philadelphia on Friday, as the varsity team played its first game since the shooting outside the school that left one 14-year-old junior varsity football player dead and four other teens injured.
Nicolas Elizalde’s No. 62 football jersey hung on a pole, blowing in the wind near the 30-yard-line of the field as Roxborough took on Kensington High School Friday afternoon. A teacher looked onto the field smiling as the teams ran up and down the field past it.
There were a couple of dozen parents, students, and staff at the game, and a notable police presence, but many of them said the evening was about finding some normalcy through Friday night football.
It was the kind of game Elizalde may have dreamed of playing for Roxborough High. He attended Saul High School which does not have its own football program, but was allowed to play for Roxborough.
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The weather was on their side Friday night. It was a perfect fall evening, with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky.
“I see the field is kind of empty, but we’ve got to come here so they can keep playing and achieving,” said Ida Ginyerd, from New Jersey. She came to the game to support her nephew, who plays for Roxborough.
“To come out to support the team, just the family here, to just be present here, just to show support.”
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She says that’s what the community needs right now after the deadly quintuple shooting on Sept. 27. Two of five suspects are in custody. Police have publicly identified two of the remaining three suspects.
“The neighborhood, the kids need our support and our love,” said Ginyerd.
While the Roxborough team didn’t pull through in the end, losing to Kensington 34-22, the real win was getting back on the field.