Eastside Catholic suffers devastating loss after victory

BELLEVUE — Usually, when coach Bill Marsh takes the wheel of the Eastside Catholic football team bus, it equates to the Crusaders' first victory of the season.

After the Crusaders' first victory this year — a 14-7 comeback win over Sunnyside on Saturday — Marsh drove the team bus, as promised.

Amid victorious screams and yells from his players, Marsh steered the team back to Eastside Catholic from Lake Washington High School.

But something was different. Marsh stared out the front of the bus, hands gripping the wheel, foot on the gas and tears streaming down his face.

Soon after Saturday's win, Marsh got the most difficult news he would deliver to one of his teams.

Back at school, Marsh told the team to gather in the gymnasium.

The sixth-year Crusaders coach quietly informed his team that sophomore reserve wide receiver/defensive back Brian Hill had died at the wheel of his 2000 Volkswagen Jetta in an accident near Issaquah.

"The kids are going crazy in back (of the bus), but in about 20 minutes, I knew I was about to give the kids the worst news they could ever receive," said Marsh. "I knew I was about to break 50 hearts."

Hill mainly played with the junior varsity, but suited up for the varsity and was one of the most vocal players on the sideline.

On a stretch of road on Southeast 60th Street nicknamed "Roller-Coaster Road," Hill's vehicle left the road and struck a tree. Hill, 16, and his front-seat passenger and best friend, John Kelley, 17, died in the crash.

A 14-year-old in the back seat of the car survived.

"It was just really devastating," Marsh said.

The Eastside Catholic football team has rallied for the Hill family. Senior Crusaders Pat Foulon and John Sirlin led a Sunday night candlelight vigil in front of the school and a Monday morning prayer gathering.

"The vigil just grew into this huge thing, led by our senior players," Marsh said. "We had people there starting at 10 a.m., and some were still there at midnight."

The team took Monday off from practice, but every player wore his uniform to school Monday to honor Hill.

"It was just a surreal setting to watch the kids do this stuff," Marsh said.

Hill will be remembered at the school's regular Thursday night Mass. After a football game tomorrow night at Ingraham, Hill's memorial service will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at Newport Covenant Church.

Marsh received a pregame call from his wife, Jeni, who left a voice mail stating that she'd heard that an Eastside Catholic student had died in a car accident and thought it might be a football player.

Before Marsh and the team boarded the bus before the game, a head count revealed that Hill was the only player missing.

"I kept waiting for news to trickle down from the stands during the game, but it never did," Marsh said. "I wanted to intercept it from the players if I could."

Jeni Marsh and Eastside Catholic vice principal Jeff Rodenburg confirmed the football coach's worst suspicions amid a raucous postgame celebration near midfield.

The Crusaders rallied to win on a 50-yard touchdown pass from David Roberts to Jason Butler with 1:43 left. But Marsh broke down crying upon receiving confirmation of Hill's death during the wild postgame celebration.

Hill's No. 72 jersey will be retired in a halftime ceremony at the Crusaders' home game at Juanita High School against Seattle Prep Oct. 15.

A team award for courageous freshmen and sophomore players will be awarded in Hill's name.

"Brian was just one of those kids who you always saw a smile through his mouth guard," Marsh said. "He was a kid who knew he wouldn't get in many games, but he wanted other guys to do well."