The below review appeared in the Christian Science Monitor (https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2022/0106/Two-football-books-celebrate-unity-on-and-off-the-field):

On Nov. 8, 2018, Paradise High School football coach Rick Prinz was texting his players about delaying practice; minutes later, the Northern California town’s residents were running for their lives. The Camp fire decimated Paradise, killing more than 80 people, and destroying 12,000 homes. The conflagration also wrecked the Paradise Bobcats’ shot at the playoffs. With the town in ashes (except, remarkably, for the high school’s football field), there was little hope of playing the 2019 season, either. Still, as Bill Plaschke, sports columnist for The Los Angeles Times, writes in “Paradise Found: A High School Football Team’s Rise from the Ashes,” the Bobcats’ pulled off a remarkable comeback, bringing their town along with them.

When football games resumed 10 months after the fire, the Friday night lights had never meant so much to the community. It gave the people of Paradise a meeting place, a common cause, and a much-needed sense of normalcy, Plaschke writes. Playing football was also beneficial for the young men, a way of expressing their grief and taking back some control over their lives, even if they were also painfully aware of how much the people of Paradise were counting on them. The players were able to rise to the occasion, notching an undefeated 10-game season, stopped only by a heartbreaking loss in the championship.

Plaschke’s focus on the human side of this football story is a winning choice. Though there isn’t as much on-the-field action as one would expect, and the formula for each chapter can get a bit repetitive, there is emotional power behind the words of “Paradise Found.” It’s a gut-wrenching and inspiring tale of the healing power of sports.