'When the Game Stands Tall': Unlikely 2004 De La Salle team rose from the ashes

To his surprise — and pleasure — Danny Ladouceur recently found a 2004 De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) football highlight CD in a friend's Xbox.

"I hadn't seen it in years," said the 27-year-old, a starting senior receiver on that team and current assistant on the school's freshman team. "I kind of forgot how far we'd come. It was fun to watch."

On Friday, hundreds of thousands around the country will join Ladouceur, the son of the school's Hall of Fame coach Bob Ladouceur, to relive that season and that team, but through the lens of Hollywood.

The long-awaited and talked-about national release of Neil Hayes' book turned movie, "When the Game Stands Tall," opens everywhere Friday.

The motion picture, starring Jim Caviezel as Bob Ladouceur and Michael Chiklis as defensive coordinator Terry Eidson and directed by Thomas Carter ("Coach Carter"), has had multiple Bay Area viewings, and the overall reviews by those in the know — players, coaches, alumni — are overwhelmingly positive.

But like all true tales turned Hollywood — see initial reactions to "Moneyball," "Friday Night Lights," — liberties were taken to jam a book that exhaustively detailed 25 years of De La Salle football into a 115-minute movie.

For more information, visit the Sony Pictures "When The Game Stands Tall" website

At first, Danny Ladouceur admitted, it was a little jarring to watch. Especially when the first football scene — exquisitely shot by second unit director Allan Graf — shows him fumbling after getting crushed by a Bellevue (Wash.) defender, who returned it for a touchdown. Bellevue defeated De La Salle 39-20 to open that 2004 season and break the Spartans' national-record 151-game win streak.

"Didn't happen," Ladouceur said of the play.

Later in the movie, Ladouceur redeems himself with a touchdown grab against a team the Spartans didn't play that season.

"Didn't happen," he said. "But you know, I get it. They needed to show the transformation and rise of the team. … Ultimately, what was most important is the film depicted the program and our values and what we're about in a very accurate and positive light."

The 2004 team rebounded from a nightmarish — certainly by De La Salle standards — 2-3-2 start, on top of losing the win streak, to finish with seven straight wins, including a 41-0 North Coast Section title victory over undefeated Amador Valley (Pleasanton) at Cal.

It was the school's 13th straight North Coast Section title, a streak that has now stretched to 22 consecutive and 29 overall. The team's 9-3-2 record, however, contained the most blemishes in Bob Ladouceur's 34-year head coaching career. His record was 399-25-3.

"These guys were truly the Phoenix," Bob Ladouceur said after the game. "They really rose from the ashes. I'm as proud of this team as any I've ever coached."

That rise is why producer David Zelon picked the 2004 season to focus on. Before the season, Bob Ladouceur barely survived a heart attack and one of the program's most beloved players Terrance Kelly was murdered. The 2004 team's first bus ride together was to Kelly's funeral.

Hayes' book covered only through the 2003 season, but a paperback edition with an epilogue featuring 2004 was re-released.

"When The Game Stands Tall" showtimes, in your area

"It's hard to make a movie about a team that never loses," Zelon said. "The epilogue had all the conflict I needed to go forward with the project."

Andrew Camera, a wide receiver on that 2004 team who also coaches on the current De La Salle freshman team, said the conflict was very real. Both said the movie conveyed that emotional roller coaster very well, especially the tragic passing of Kelly.

"As an 18-year-old, it felt like the whole world was coming to an end," Camera said. "We lost the streak. Losing the next week to Clovis West was almost as bad. We were in a downward spiral. We were the black sheep team. But the coaches and players dug deep. It was truly a collective effort."

Said Danny Ladouceur: "The team we started on the field in Washington wasn't the team that started late. There was a lot of shuffling."

Danny said the movie portrayed his father's heart attack very accurately. He would know because he was there, and because now he's currently an EMT for Paramedics Plus, out of Alameda County. Paramedics helped to save his father's life.

"I remember being pretty terrified," he said. "My dad is a pretty tough guy and him not wanting to go the hospital. I remember wanting (paramedics) to work even faster, but looking back now, they did a great job. They were calm and composed."

Danny didn't become a paramedic because of that moment, he said. He's applied to become a Game Warden with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The San Jose State graduate — like his father — didn't plan to go into coaching either. He and Camera said they love coaching, though this will likely be Danny's last season if he lands a full-time job.

Both make time for coaching by working long and odd hours.

"I really didn't see myself following in my dad's footsteps, but I definitely have," he said. "I think we just love working with people."

How was it watching his dad, known for his quiet and humble nature, portrayed on the Silver Screen?

"It's really pretty weird," he said. "I'm very proud of my dad and I still have a great relationship with him. I don't think any of this movie stuff has gone to his head (laughter). He's very much the same man I know."

Camera, in the property management business for now, plans to be a full-time teacher and coach. Much of that had to do with his experience playing, and now coaching, in the program.

He said the movie brought home vivid memories of his playing days.

"Those two years were the best and worst of times," Camera said. "The first three weeks of the season were surreal. To see it on the big screen and seeing things portrayed like our commitment cards and team dinners and reinforcing concepts of brotherhood and perfect effort, it brought me back to that time."