As Rohan Shukla watched the Sept. 26 football game against Minutemen Tech from a wheelchair, the Eagles “felt like they needed to win” according to Junior player Xavier Cardoso.
The players, all sporting a “7” on their helmets – Rohan’s jersey number and “a symbol of strength” for Senior player Wyatt Young, ended the game with a 44-14 win. “When we say ‘for seven,’ it means that ‘we can do this no matter what happens,’” he noted.
Rohan Shukla sustained a life-changing injury during last year’s annual Sharon High vs. Oliver Ames Thanksgiving football game, the finale of a losing season. His brain injury forced his teammates to reevaluate the meaning of the game as well as their relationship with it.
Cardoso recalls feeling “helpless” at the loss of a close friend and teammate, with “kids not knowing what to do after it happened.”
Young remembers feeling like “Thanksgiving killed all the team’s hearts for the love of football,” and found it difficult to justify playing after the traumatic experience.
Although he thought about quitting, he felt driven by Rohan’s hard work and passion. “I knew that if Rohan was healthy, he would be playing. He would stick with us. That motivated me to keep playing for him.”
However, some players, like Tyler Almon, a Senior, felt that he couldn’t continue the sport after seeing the danger it put him in.
“I felt sad that the circumstances didn’t allow me to play, but I had to think about my future and my health,” he said, remembering his conflicting feelings about leaving the team.
Many players, like Almon, did not return to play for the ‘26 season, citing Rohan’s injury as an illustration of football’s inherent violence and danger. Cardoso recalls his parents “hating football” after the events of last Thanksgiving.
Not only does Rohan continue to support the football team from afar, players show their support for him as well, both on and off the field. Xavier Cardoso hopes that Rohan will “see [this year’s Thanksgiving] game and know we’re rooting for him.”
As one of Rohan’s close friends, Cardoso visited his hospital room every Sunday once visitors were allowed, and he continues to spend time with both Rohan and his family, who Young says never fail to “impress the team with their strength.”
Members of the team and Rohan’s friends constantly make efforts to see him, getting together to watch college football and spend time together.
As Thanksgiving approached, players feel “bittersweet” about the upcoming game against Oliver Ames, Young said, but they see the match as a “fresh start,” despite it being the last game of the season.
“We made it through this year without Rohan on the team, but we kept his hard work in the back of our minds. Now we’re going to do it for him and lay it all on the field because that’s what he did last year,” said Young.
Young and his teammates hope this Thanksgiving game will be a chance to reverse the loss they endured last year.
Today, when the players sprint onto the Oliver Ames field, every tackle, pick, and touchdown will be for the teammate that they love more than the game: “for seven.”
