Coachella Valley High School football to unveil all-black look for first time in school history
The Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians donated 200 helmets and uniforms to the three high schools in the Coachella Valley Unified School District last week, and on Friday evening Coachella Valley High School will show some of it off.
The Arabs will take the field against Twentynine Palms High with an all-black look, which has never been seen before at the school.
“Football is an important part of the Coachella Valley culture, and we are committed to our kids in making sure that sports and safety go hand in hand within our school system," said Darrell Mike, chairman of the Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians. "We are donating the newest in football helmet technology which are being used by the NFL and college teams. Our athletes deserve the same protection."
The donation includes NFL-approved and used Riddell SpeedFlex and Shute helmets and represents the deep ties between Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians and the CVUSD.
“We are deeply grateful to Chairman Mike and the Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians for donating these helmets to us,” Arabs head coach Bill Johnson said. “The athletes flipped out when they first saw them on Monday and are very excited about wearing them in the game.”
Coachella Valley High and the Coachella Valley Unified School has been staunchly against an all-black look in the past, in part because of the history behind the green and gold colors at the school that opened in 1910. There’s a history and a proud tradition associated with those colors.
Helmets and jerseys were also donated to Desert Mirage and West Shores high schools, which are also part of the CVUSD.
With this being homecoming week at Coachella Valley High and with the school celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Class of 1993, the school had originally planned to wear the black helmets with black pants and the school’s traditional green jerseys with gold numbers.
But the CVUSD school board instead decided that an all-black look would be preferred, meaning that it will be the first time in the school’s 113 years that an all-black uniform will be worn for a football game.
The look will include black helmets, black pants and black jerseys with gold numbering. The helmet logo will be green.
Coachella Valley's star running back Aaron Ramirez said that the team loves the all-black look and that he hopes that the excitement of unveiling the look won't be a distraction for the task at hand, which is bouncing back after a devastating loss last week to Yucca Valley.
"I'm really just looking forward to going back out there and fix the things we need to fix," Ramirez said. "Practices were good and the energy was there. Now, it's time to perfect game time."
Ramirez to be honored
Ramirez, a junior, is now the school's all-time leading rusher, with 3,528 yards. He has surpassed Jose Hernandez, who graduated from Coachella Valley High in 1979.
Hernandez, who was an All-CIF honoree during his playing days, will be in attendance at Friday's game, and will take part in a pre-game ceremony with Ramirez on the field to mark the achievement.
Ramirez has 1,136 rushing yards in six games this season for the 5-1 Arabs. He has scored 22 touchdowns this season.
Career-wise, Ramirez has 4,212 yards of total offense and 65 touchdowns. Two weeks ago, he set another school record with a 99-yard touchdown run which was the longest in school history.
Andrew John covers sports in the Coachella Valley for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella Valley High football to unveil all-black look for first time
