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As a football player during
the week and a firefighter Explorer on the weekends, Tehachapi's Finley
has shouldered a heavy workload Sean Finley's senior year has been tough on his body. Besides having to carry the football for Tehachapi High, Finley lugged 75-pound hoses, dragged 150-pound dummies and lifted 12-foot ladders hours after Friday night games. Finley did much of this strenuous work with one arm. He had to as part of his training with the Los Angeles County Fire Department's Explorer Program. For the first six of the 10 weekends during the regular season, Finley worked, learned and slept alongside Explorers and firefighters at Fire Station 129 in Lancaster. Finley's efforts, coming with his left arm in a sling, earned him a certificate and reinforced his desire to become a firefighter. He graduated from the program on Oct. 23 and has since been able to catch up on sleep and regain his strength. Tehachapi will need him at full force for its Central Section Division III playoff run, which will begin at 7 p.m. Friday when the fifth-seeded Warriors (6-4) host No. 12 Fresno-Roosevelt (0-10). "It was pretty bad, especially (on) away games," Finley said of being deprived of sleep to attend the Explorer program, which is part of Learning for Life, a classroom-based program providing action-learning and developing social and life skills. "(When) we have to go all the way to Bakersfield and Taft (for games), we'd be getting back (around midnight) and leaving me with only three to four hours of sleep." The late Friday nights left Finley with not enough time to recover from the beating he endured playing running back. Finley at least had both of his arms for the first three weeks of the Explorer program, which started the morning after Tehachapi's season opener on Sept. 10. A left shoulder injury on Oct. 1 against Stockdale put him in a predicament. Finley, who rushed for 117 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries in the 30-6 loss, said he had never felt such excruciating pain. This prompted Finley's parents after the game to call Terry Crosby, a Los Angeles County firefighter and one of their son's instructors in the Explorer program. Crosby remembers the 11:30 p.m. call. "I live in Tehachapi and I was asleep when Sean's dad called, and it's never a good thing when you get a call late at night," Crosby said. "The dad told me they were taking him to the hospital and he wasn't sure if Sean would be able to make it to training the next day. "But the next morning, there was Sean with a sling ready to learn and work with one arm." Finley didn't miss a session, working 24-hour shifts with 40 other Explorers learning to be a firefighter. Finley missed two Tehachapi games because of the shoulder injury. "During the games I was pretty much the water boy," Finley said. "It was horrible. It was the worst thing I've had to do." The Warriors pulled together without their 6-foot-1, 217-pound back, winning both games to improve to 4-3. The following week Finley returned, admitting he wasn't 100 percent, and Tehachapi lost 20-12 at Taft and its chance of defending its South Sequoia League title. His team, meanwhile, wondered whether Finley would regain the strength that helped him average 160 rushing yards over the first four games. "The guy could never get his fresh legs," Tehachapi coach Steve Denman said. "He spent the whole first six games all weekend long (at the fire station after) carrying the ball and getting beat up Friday night. He had to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and drive all the way down (to Lancaster) and do that all day Saturday, all day Sunday, and then come back. "We can tell it took its toll on him, but that's what he wants to do and you can't take it away from a kid. He has a lot of goals and you can only wish him the best." With the coach's blessing, Finley came back strong for the final three games of the regular season, totaling 609 rushing yards and five touchdowns. For the season, Finley has rushed for 1,313 yards and 13 touchdowns. "It has been tough on the body, but football and being a firefighter are similar because it's all about teamwork," said Finley, adding that he would like to play college football before pursing a firefighting career. "My dream is to be a L.A. County firefighter." That will take some time. In the meantime, instead of dragging hoses, Finley plans to carry tacklers and Tehachapi on his back to its second straight Central Section championship.
Sean Finley demonstrates the testing he went through to be a firefighter Explorer. While the hose he carries is 45 pounds, for the test he had to run with three hoses connected together - (Photo by Ian Hamilton) To see an archived article on Sean's Firefighting experience, click here |
