DELANO, Calif. (KERO) — The Robert F. Kennedy High School football team from Delano made history last weekend by winning their first-ever CIF State Championship in Division 3-A, and the community came together Saturday to honor their achievement with a celebratory parade.
Cheers echoed down 11th Avenue as the community lined the streets all the way to Robert F. Kennedy High School to celebrate their newly crowned state champions.
"It's amazing. You know like I told our guys, they're going to be a part of history. Their names will be remembered forever being the first. And you always want to be the first that's something and to be able to accomplish it in this is great for our program, great for the town, great for the school," head football coach Mario Millan said.
Millan has led the program since 2014 and acknowledged the journey to the championship wasn't without challenges.
"We understood that it was tough. Then we got to the league and we hit a bump in losing to Wasco Chapter in our league, and that's when I think that our kids really came together, became healthy, had an opportunity to compete a much higher level. But I think those two losses really gelled our team and got us pointed in the right direction," Millan said.
Senior Jamison Membreve said the team gave everything they had during the championship game against McClymond High School.
"Kept telling us, this is your last 48 minutes. This is your last 48 minutes of playing football. And we took that to heart. We really played our heart tile for those last 48 minutes," Membreve said.
Membreve credited the coaching staff for the team's success.
"Our coaches really brought us here. Even though we were the ones on the field, they were the ones that they were the ones that taught us how to be humble, how to be disciplined, and being disciplined really helped us," Membreve said.
The emotions from the championship victory remain fresh for the players.
"That last whistle, when we heard it, it felt like all of our weight just dropped. All of the excitement came out and all of the emotions came out as whole team," Membreve said.
For Coach Millan, Saturday's community celebration created lasting memories.
"Great to be able to celebrate kids, and to celebrate as a community, something they can talk about forever. You know, just to bring happiness, just joy, we can't beat that," Millan said.
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