Stone Ridge’s Rees making best of tough situation

One of the best parts about being young is not having to make too many tough decisions.

The adult world presents no shortage of hard calls that can change the course of a person’s path. Some kids rail against such things, longing for the day that all choices are theirs to make. Most are content to have parents, grandparents or other guardians intervene on their behalf or at least talk life’s big moments through with them.

And some, like Stone Ridge Christian’s Austin Rees, have tragedy force life-changing decisions upon them.

The Stone Ridge Christian senior very easily could have never been a part of the school’s back-to-back Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII titles or Saturday’s 2 p.m. NorCal play-in game with Mission of San Francisco at Castle Field, as life handed him a cruel blow with the death of his mother, Christie Rees, on March 21, 2014.

“I received a call from Austin’s aunt. Austin couldn’t wake his mom up and called 911,” Stone Ridge Christian assistant coach Anthony DeJager said. “It turns out she had a blood clot and died unexpectedly in her sleep. It was nobody’s fault and one of those things no one could see coming. Austin and his brother Dylan lost their dad in 2009. His aunt lived in Hilmar, and was uncertain who to call, so she called me and asked if I would go over there.

“For the most part, I just hung around in the background and let the family know that I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but if I could help in any capacity to just let me know. I don’t really remember how it happened, but at one point it was suggested that he stay with me that night. He decided to do that, and almost three years later, he’s been with us pretty much ever since.”

Rees came to Stone Ridge after a rough freshman year at Chowchilla. The now-two-way football star wasn’t participating in athletics and boasted a grade-point average under 2.0. The Knights’ small campus and community was seen as a second chance for Rees to find his way.

“Chowchilla was not my brightest year,” Rees said “At Chowchilla, I wasn’t involved with the right people. When I came to Stone Ridge, the community helped get me involved. I never really liked school, but coming to Stone Ridge I picked up my grades a little bit. I still had a hard time with it, but I wanted to do well, especially because of football.”

DeJager said Rees wasn’t a football natural. He didn’t see the field until the sixth game of his sophomore year, but his work ethic was evident. Rees wholeheartedly embraced the team’s morning CrossFit training and became a two-way starting lineman before the season was over.

“Honestly, when he came to Stone Ridge, I had very little expectations for him as a football player,” DeJager said. “He’s so quiet that he won’t say anything to make you notice him. By the end of that first year, he ended up improving so much we couldn’t get him off the field.

“It wasn’t just football. The small nature of Stone Ridge Christian really appealed to him. He thrived in that environment.”

That made an already trying time more difficult. The Rees brothers had no shortage of family happy to take them in after their mother’s death, but they didn’t live in Merced.

“When Mom passed away, my extended family sat me and my brother down and asked where we wanted to live,” Rees said. “Things were going really well for me at Stone Ridge and I wanted to stay there, but it didn’t seem like an option. My aunt called Anthony and Jen and that was that.

“They took me in and treated me like family. Their kids became my little brother and sister. The toughest part was my brother really liked Chowchilla and felt at home there. He chose to live with my uncle there. It’s obviously a crappy situation, but I’m happy here. It was the best option.”

Rees has made the most of the opportunity presented to him by the DeJager clan.

The senior has rushed for 1,339 yards and 21 touchdowns on just 117 carries this season. He’s been even more dominant on the defensive side of the ball. Rees’ team-high 173 tackles are tied for sixth in the state going into Saturday’s NorCal play-in game. In addition to becoming a two-way star on the football field, Rees has turned things around in the classroom with a 3.5 GPA.

The combination of the two has earned Rees a few offers from NAIA and Division III schools. If he can help lead Stone Ridge to a state bowl game, expect those numbers to increase.

“I don’t really know what I expected when I moved in with Anthony and Jen, but I knew I wasn’t college-bound,” Rees said. “They convinced me that I should really put all my efforts into school. I didn’t even have college on my list before; it’s crazy to even think about getting the chance to play football.

“When I started playing football, it was terrible. The conditioning killed me. Now it’s my passion. I don’t think I’ll ever make a choice that good again in my life. The DeJagers are my family now and so is Stone Ridge.”

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Stone Ridge’s Rees making best of tough situation."