GALVESTON — Devon Sonnier loves football. He loves the hitting. He loves the competition.
That’s why his pads and cleats were the first and most precious items he wanted to pack in the overstuffed car when he and his 30 relatives evacuated New Orleans for Galveston the day before Hurricane Katrina shredded his hometown.
“I had a feeling that we wouldn’t be back because they were talking about a Category 5 storm and it was going to wipe out the whole city,” said the 16-year-old junior. “I had that in mind, so I got all my stuff together.
“This right here (football) is really all that I’ve got left.”
Sonnier is Ball High’s newest linebacker and will be eligible to play against Pearland on Oct. 8. Tors coach Ron Holmes said he expects to ease Sonnier into the lineup.
Sonnier said playing football was his only driving force to overcome the most treacherous, unforgettable three-week span of his young life.
Sonnier and his family lived in Algiers, a vibrant community on the west bank of New Orleans.
He attended perennial football power O. Perry Walker High School. Sonnier and his teammates made the Louisiana Class 5A playoffs in 2004.
Walker, though, has traditionally been a 4A school. The school won the 2002 4A championship and always gave national power John Curtis (River Ridge, La.) a run for its money on the gridiron.
The Walker faithful probably had higher hopes for the 2005 season. The school was back down playing in 4A after realignment.
But Walker lost a district rival — John Curtis. That school was forced to play in 2A, which is where the school’s enrollment sits, leaving the 4A championship race more wide open than it has been for decades.
But none of that mattered once deadly Katrina made a turn to the New Orleans area.
“Hmm, let me see,” Sonnier said. He had to sit back and think it about how his journey out of New Orleans began.
After a second or two of gathering his thoughts, he went through his dizzying expedition.
“The first time we heard about the storm, it was the Friday before and it was kind of unexpected,” Sonnier said. “So me and my family left that Sunday morning and the storm hit that Monday morning.”
The Sonnier family sat in a gridlock caravan on Interstate 10. They sat and sat idling for miles. The typical New Orleans humidity bore down as they remained at a standstill in the virtual parking lot.
“It took us like a day to get here,” Sonnier said.
They rode out the storm not knowing what to expect. Just like more than the one million others who were displaced, all the Sonnier family had was a TV set to watch the horror.
“It was devastating,” Sonnier said. “You just see people stranded and people looting. I never thought I would ever see my city go through that.”
Sonnier was one of the luckier ones, if one could say that. He heard that his home avoided the submerging waters that Katrina doused over 80 percent of the historic city.
He has yet to see it in person, and doesn’t expect to go back any time soon.
“It didn’t really flood, but it had a lot of roof damage,” Sonnier said. “It would have had to be built all over again basically.”
He said it’s about a 90 percent chance that he and his family will remain in Galveston for good.
As for now, his home has been a handful of hotels. The family calls Moody Gardens their current residence. Sonnier said they’ve had at least three places they’ve called home over a month span.
He said he brought as many clothes as he possibly could. But those have only gotten him so far. He said he’s had to go to shelters to find a shirt or a pair of pants.
Another issue, Sonnier said, is his family’s attempt to start anew.
“You know my mom is trying to find work,” Sonnier said as he was slightly overcome with emotion. “It’s been kind of hard. But it’ll get easier.”
Despite all his recent hardships, Sonnier is ready to find a distraction. He wants to fall asleep without thinking of what’s been lost.
Ball High is off to one of its best starts in recent memory as it enters District 24-5A play tonight as the Tors host Clear Brook.
After a 2-8 2004 season, Holmes has said repeatedly how excited he is about this year’s group of players.
That’s what Sonnier hoped for as he enrolled at Ball High shortly after arriving in Galveston.
And Holmes is happy to have him — unfortunate circumstances or not.
“He’s been through hell and back,” Holmes said. “That’s going to be a tall order. But just like any other kid, if I have to do something, I want to take something depressing away. I’m just glad to have Devon here and he seems like a great kid.”
Sonnier said the transition on the playing field has been the easiest thing thus far. Playing football is something he can control.
“This keeps my mind off of everything,” Sonnier said. “It keeps me busy and it’s always kept me out of trouble.”
Sonnier played in a junior varsity game against Texas City, but isn’t eligible to play for varsity until the Tors face Pearland.
When he is available, Holmes expects Sonnier’s playing to increase as the season progresses.
“I would think somewhere in the kicking game is where he’ll start off,” Holmes said. “He seems like he runs real well so we could use him in our nickel packages also.”
Nickel package, dime package, special teams, whatever. Sonnier is ready for anything.
“I knew wherever we ended up, I wanted to play football,” Sonnier said.
Sonnier was beginning to adjust to a new, smaller town. He was finally contacting old friends spread “across the nation” and forming new friendships with his Ball High teammates.
Then the unthinkable developed last week — Hurricane Rita.
“Why are these things following us?” Sonnier said.
All the same fears returned.
“I just didn’t want to have to start all over again,” Sonnier said.
Again, the Sonnier family did the evacuation thing.
They sat in a gridlock caravan on Interstate 45. They sat and sat one more time idling for miles. The all-too familiar humidity bore down the family again as they remained at a standstill in another virtual parking lot. They eventually made it to Dallas, where they rode out the cyclone.
Fortunately for he and much of Galveston County, the heavy damage from the Category 2 storm occurred northeast.
“It was just a breeze that passed through us compared to Katrina,” Sonnier said.
With all the rain, wind and terror behind him, he’s counting down the days until he can suit up the Tors.
“It’s been wild,” Sonnier said. “My whole life has changed. But I’ve just got to stick with it. I just have to start over. This is where I’m meant to be.”
