DEL MAR, Calif. — This week, there is a special light around the Cathedral Catholic High School football program as the anticipation builds for seniors like running back Lucky Sutton, who has been waiting four years for this exact moment.

“Since our freshman year we’ve been wanting to go 'State 2022.' We even named our football group chat that," Sutton said. "We’re living in that moment right now.”

Preparing to compete in Friday's CIF state bowl game has been a moment of excitement and happiness for the Dons, but one that has come to the team with its share of darkness as well.

On Feb. 1, just days before the team would get back on the field post-lockdown, the Dons program lost a member of their family.

Special teams coordinator and a graduate of Cathedral Catholic Mario Fierro was murdered outside his home. It is something Sutton and longtime head coach Sean Doyle still cannot wrap their heads around fully.

"To lose him, it was a hard loss for us," Sutton recalled. "I remember the day he did pass away I was shaking. I couldn’t believe it.”

“We have a song that we’ve sung for years here, ‘Lean on Me,’” Doyle said. “They put Mario’s name in the sand and it was just pretty emotional. The resiliency that that stuff builds in kids though, as negative as it was. Just so many positive memories. His influence is going to be here for so many years which is what he wanted.”

Doyle, like the kids on his football field, continues to feel Fierro's presence every game day.

It has been that way since their first game back.

“First game we played last spring, he was our special teams coordinator and the first punt return we took was for a touchdown," Doyle said. "We knew it was Mario up there like, 'that’s me baby.'”

Dealing with that loss after a pandemic would signal adversity to any team, but just months later, the Dons would be dealt another devastating blow.

This time a teammate, 17-year-old Connor White, who died unexpectedly. 

“I was pretty close with Connor," said senior quarterback Charlie Mirer. "In my sophomore year, he was next to me in the stretching lines. I feel his presence every time I go on the field and I play for them. I don’t know I just miss them a lot.”

The losses have given the Cathedral Catholic team a sense of purpose and a reason for playing because for the Dons, it is not just about bringing home a ring for themselves.

“We just realized it was for a bigger purpose," Sutton said. "We wanted to give them a chance to get their ring.”

"These kids will have a lot of opportunity to do things in life," Doyle added. "But to be able to put that stamp of what Mario and Connor would’ve wanted if they were here... that would be a nice thing to go out with."

White and Fierro may be gone but they are not forgotten.