Before they even had the chance to kick off the season, a San Jose high school football team suffered a major blow.
Thieves took football and other sports equipment from sheds at Santa Teresa High School last weekend.
The East Side Union High School District said it appears someone used a truck to pry open two storage containers and steal sports equipment along with pop-up tents and a storage cabinet full of things boosters use to raise money for the season.
"All our merchandise that we sell that we use for our fundraising, so our T-shirts and hats and pajama pants and all that," Santa Teresa Athletic Booster Club co-president Emily Saole said. "It was full."
Police said the break-ins happened between Friday night and Saturday morning, but it didn't end with the equipment. The biggest loss was discovered on Monday.
"On Monday when we came in, we actually realized it was a little bit bigger," Sergio Diaz-Luna with the school district said. "They stole some of the wiring and broke into equipment by the lights. We noticed the lights were offline and those needed to be repaired."
It’s not yet clear how much the repair will cost, but crews were at the field Tuesday working on it.
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At first, parents worried the extensive damage would keep the field dark all season and prevent the team from playing any night games at home.
"It’s tough to start the school year out like this," Saole said. "It definitely would affect everyone that uses the field. Not just football. Band, cheer."
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But there was a glimmer of good news Tuesday. The contractors said the damage isn’t as bad as first thought.
"The community was really worried about not being able to have the lights up and running before the first home game on the 29th," Diaz-Luna said. "Luckily, some of the estimates that we’re getting from the repair team is that we’ll have the lights up next week."
Police are investigating the copper wire theft and the break-ins at the storage containers.
Meanwhile, the Santa Teresa Athletic Booster Club is trying to raise money to help replace the stolen equipment. People interested in helping should visit stabc.org.
