12.2.06

Football is his refuge, savior

JESSIE VANDERSON
Tucson Citizen
 

For Patrick Medina, high school football is not just a game.
 

It's a place where the two-way starter from Sunnyside High can escape his broken heart and thank his grandparents, Bertha and Manuel Rubalcaba, for raising him.
 

Medina's mother has battled drug problems, and he's never met his father, who is in prison.
 

"My grandparents have helped me out a lot," said Medina, 17. "Without them, I do not know where I would be right now."
 

Medina, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior, will start at receiver and linebacker when

Sunnyside faces unbeaten Peoria Centennial for the Class 5A Division II state championship at 5 tonight at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.
 

The Rubalcabas recently became legal guardians of Medina, who has lived estranged from his mother (their daughter) since he was a toddler.
 

"My mom has been on drugs for a long time. She is stuck in that lifestyle," Medina said. "I do not think that you can change her. . . .
 

"She tells me she loves me, but if she did, she wouldn't do the things that she does."
 

Medina's mom has tried to make amends. She calls her mother to check on Medina and on occasion comes by her parents' home on the Southeast Side to clean her son's room.
 

"She tries very hard to make up things with Patrick, but they clash," Bertha Rubalcaba said.
 

"He hurts," she said. "He holds onto a lot of baggage. I feel he is embarrassed to say who his mother is."
Medina's mom, 42, will be in the stands in Glendale tonight with her parents as Sunnyside goes for its third state title in football since 2001.
 

"She is at the games all the time. I tell him, 'She is still your mom,' " Bertha said. "I wish they could sit down and talk."
Medina's father is incarcerated in Missouri, his home state, according to his son.
 

"I have never seen my dad before. He has been in jail since I was a little kid," Medina said. "Once in a blue moon, I will hear from his family."
 

Medina has inherited the thick, wavy hair of his father, who is of Hawaiian and Afro-Puerto Rican descent.
 

"His father just disappeared," said Bertha Rubalcaba, 64. "And my daughter is not as bad person, but she has had her problems."
 

Added Bertha: "None of her brothers or her sister has had a problem with drugs. I guess she must have gotten with the wrong crowd. It has been going on for a while. It is something that you cannot describe."
 

Upset over his parents' situations, Medina said he was a poor student who disrupted classes when he arrived at Sunnyside from nearby Chaparral Middle School four years ago.
 

"He has come a long way," Sunnyside football coach Richard Sanchez said. "Teachers just wanted to get rid of Patrick. Now, they want to keep him in their classrooms."
 

Medina's emergence as a football and track and field standout at Sunnyside coincided with his turnaround in conduct.
The sprinter, a deep threat on the football field, is the defending 5A Southern Region champ in the 400 meters. Two years ago, he won the 4A Sonoran Region title in the 200 meters.
 

Through an increased effort in the classroom, Medina has been removed from special education to regular classes.
 

"Coach Sanchez helped me out a lot," Medina said. "At first, I was really messing up. I was a big problem. I did not have anything until I got to football. Football is something that I really love."
 

Sanchez said he used a "no-excuses" approach with Medina and other players with similar backgrounds.
 

"As coaches, we do not let anything slide by," Sanchez said.
 

Sanchez's team has been a place where Medina has found refuge from his emotional wounds.
 

"The structure and the discipline of our program has helped all the kids, and him particularly," Sanchez said. "It has helped him get things in order in his personal life."
 

Medina has bonded with teammate Jovan Stevenson, the team's star tailback and cornerback.
 

"We are like brothers," Stevenson said. "I think football is his life. It is the only thing that he has. It is the only thing that makes him happy, just like me."
 

Others on the team also have compassion and empathy for Medina.
 

"I have been playing with him (Patrick) for a long time. I know about some of the problems that he has," said Jose Herrera, Sunnyside's all-state candidate at defensive tackle. "I know that the football program is his family. He can look to us any time that he needs us."
 

And Medina can continue to look for guidance from his grandparents, who will cheer him on as he tries to help bring home another state championship.