Hooker brothers provide Stone Ridge building blocks

A member of the Stone Ridge Christian coaching staff joked that you can’t throw a stone on campus without hitting a Hooker.

With six members of the 161-student base, it’s not as big an exaggeration as it sounds. Though it’s probably more applicable to the Knights’ football team.

When Stone Ridge Christian laces up its cleats for Friday night’s NorCal Division VI-AA Regional Bowl game at East Nicolaus, four of its 30-man roster – Mark, Adam, Travis and Jordan – will bear the Hooker name. Three of them are seniors who helped begin to turn the program around four years ago, and they will be pivotal two-way starters as the Knights attempt to reach their first State Bowl Game in school history.

“You’ve got quadruplets, and then the second set are twins, so that’s crazy enough by itself,” Stone Ridge coach Art De Jager said. “The four boys are all on the football team, and the three seniors have been there from the beginning with this thing. They’re all about as different as you can be, different sizes, different personalities. They don’t even look alike.

“Mark is the biggest of them, and he’s got the alpha personality to go with it. Adam is the quiet thinker. Travis is the loyal one, just a true gentleman. And then Jordan is the freshman that’s just starting to make his mark.”

Much like their varying personalities, each of the Hooker brothers has carved out a specific niche on the team.

Mark is the household name. He was the first brother to make a major impact on the team and got himself on the national radar by recording 22 sacks a season ago, tying him for sixth best in the state and 16th in the nation. If possible, Mark has been even better his senior year. His nine sacks in the last two games have elevated him to 32 for the season, good for second in the nation behind Sacramento Kennedy’s Ramar Crump Jr.

“Mark is definitely the brother that everybody knows,” Adam said. “He’s one of the nation’s top sack guys, and he kind of has that big personality to go with it. He’s definitely gotten the most attention of all of us, but Travis and I have our own things going on, so we’ve never really minded. It’s more a source of pride for our family – ‘look at this cool thing my brother is doing.’ ”

Adam may yet become a household name if things go well Friday. He’s always served as a quiet leader for the team in the secondary (63 tackles, one interception), but he is about to become a big part of the offensive equation. Adam stepped into a starting wing back position after Shane Casillas suffered a broken ankle in last week’s 70-21 victory over San Francisco Mission in the NorCal play-in game. He delivered with 80 yards and a touchdown in the win and will be called upon for another big showing against East Nicolaus.

“Adam is definitely the most studious of all of us,” Travis said. “School has always been really important to him, and he does well at it. I probably fall somewhere between him and Mark.

“We’ve definitely had our ups and downs as brothers on the team, but it’s definitely pretty cool to get to share this experience with them. Odds are next year we’re going to go off to different schools and start the next parts of our lives, so I’m enjoying this season while it lasts.”

Travis is the steady hand. His contributions aren’t always as overtly obvious as that of his brothers, but he unselfishly helps make the team go. He recorded 47 tackles at outside linebacker and anchors an offensive line that’s blocked for 5,949 rushing yards this season.

“I’ve known the Hooker boys since they were little kids,” De Jager said. “The Hookers, the Vander Dussens, the Vander Woudes, we all own dairies out in Chowchilla. Their mom was actually the one who suggested I come out and coach the team. I didn’t know anything about Stone Ridge back then, but I knew the kids, and I knew they wanted to win. It’s a big part of why I took the job.

“Seeing how far they’ve come in those three years is amazing. They were still boys when they started out, but they’re definitely men now.”

Travis said De Jager’s tutelage, coupled with the dairy-worker mentality, helped escalate that development.

“Working a farm definitely creates a good work ethic,” Travis said. “My dad always says, ‘If you’re going to do something, do it right.’ I think that applies pretty well to football. My brothers and I and the rest of the seniors have put in the work. We’ve helped show our youngest brother Jordan and the other younger guys what it takes to be successful.

“Now we get to enjoy that work paying off.”

This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Hooker brothers provide Stone Ridge building blocks."