The start of a new football season always comes with a lot of exciting fanfare, especially in high school. Cheerleaders form a tunnel on the field and the football players come running through them, yelling and whooping while the crowd cheers. But at Foothill High School in Palo Cedra, California, the game started out with something unexpected: silence.
The cheerleaders formed their tunnel on the field, as usual, but the young football players quietly walked through them, approached one cheerleader– Ashley Adamietz– and proceeded to lay orange roses at her feet.
Ashley was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in August and has been undergoing chemotherapy daily. When senior football captain Ryab Caetano heard about Ashley’s situation, he approached his coach and team with a special idea; Ashley had cheered for them for so long, wasn’t it time for them to cheer for her?
So at the next game, each of the 57 Foothill High football players produced a single orange rose for Ashley as a sign of their love and support. They chose the color orange because it is the color of Leukemia awareness.
Cougar Football = FAMILY #ashleystrong pic.twitter.com/KvdOTF0Acs
– Joey Brown (@CoachBrown_FHS) September 3, 2016
Ashley’s face when she realizes what’s going on is priceless. “We took care of family business before we took care of business on the field” said Joey Brown, the football team’s head coach.
But the unexpected pile of roses was just the beginning; the high school isn’t done supporting Ashley yet. They plan to all wear orange to the next football game, cheering on their brave cheerleader.
#AshleyStrong pic.twitter.com/LTOR1Ypi9r
– RBHS SENIORS (@rbhsclassof2017) September 7, 2016
Watch the video below of the heartwarming surprise.
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