WESTLAKE — Julius Poppinga jokingly told Westlake football coach Mark Servé that by the time he was a senior, he would be 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds … and he would run the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds.
“Julius was a fun-loving, energetic, weird kid,” Servé said, smiling at the memory. “And he embraced his weirdness, just like I do. He just was Julius. And we’ll love him forever.”
Poppinga died on Wednesday due to an asthma-related incident, but his presence was still felt at Friday night’s prep football game when Westlake hosted Thousand Oaks. The Warriors’ solemn-faced captains carried his jersey to the center of the field for the coin toss after a moment of silence.
The number 58 was at every turn, whether imprinted on T- shirts or armbands. The student section hung a banner with his number and a heart, and cheerleaders adorned the boxes they stood on in a similar theme.
Even crosstown rival Oaks Christian players will soon be wearing stickers on their helmets with Poppinga’s initials on them.
No one would have blamed the team and school administration for rescheduling the game, but the stadium lights flicked on as usual on Friday night. Those familiar with the Poppingas, though, knew the Warriors would march on.
“When I went and talked to him, he didn’t want to talk about anything that was going on with him,” Servé said. “When he was in the hospital, he just wanted to talk football.”
Many prep football coaches reached out to Servé in the days since Wednesday offering condolences and support. Thousand Oaks coach Ben McEnroe said that his program was ready to respect whatever decision Westlake made regarding the game.
“There’s no playbook for grief,” McEnroe said. “When we got the word that they were going to play, we were ready to go. We appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the healing process.”
Poppingą, whose dad Brady played eight NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers, played at defensive end and on the offensive line for the Warriors. He was 6-foot-1, 220 pounds and every ounce was filled with personality.
“He definitely had a motor,” Jayson Brattin, who carried Poppinga’s jersey on Friday night. “He never wanted to quit, he never wanted to stop. He taught me to never give up as a person.”
Thousand Oaks put up two touchdowns in the first half and held Westlake to a field goal to win the game 27-3.
Lancers quarterback Jackson Taylor threw two touchdowns in the second half. He first connected with Preston Handler for an 11-yard touchdown strike with five seconds left in the third quarter, then ran to extend a play with six minutes to go in the game and threw to a diving Andrew Lacombe for the final touchdown.
The warm tones of the Warrior-colored sunset backdropping the scoreboard reflected the attitude with which both coaches approach the family aspect of their teams. McEnroe encourages his players to hug and shake hands even after practice to emphasize the love within the program. Servé is similar.
“We use the word ‘love’ around our program a lot,” he said. “Loving each other, loving what we do, loving the manner in which we do it, but more importantly just loving life.”
And if we live as Poppinga did, that includes loving our true selves, too.