Football: Royal is indirectly affected by the Metrolink tragedy

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Royal Coach Gene Uebelhardt, his staff and players left their Simi Valley campus at 4:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon, bound for the San Fernando Valley. The destination was Chaminade High, but the Highlanders ran into several detours en route to West Hills because of the Metrolink crash in Chatsworth.

Arriving at the field on time for the season opener was the last thing on anyone’s mind, though. Everyone from Royal was more concerned with the tragedy that had happened just minutes before they departed for what was expected to be a short trip for the game against the Eagles.

‘Thankfully, from everything we’ve heard up to this point, we’ve been lucky that no one in the Royal family was harmed. Things could change, though. We’ll find out more over the next couple of days,’’ Uebelhardt said Saturday morning after the Highlanders’ 34-12 loss to Chaminade on Friday night.

‘We took the 118 Freeway yesterday and we were about to get off at the Topanga Canyon exit to make our way over to Chaminade [in West Hills], and then law enforcement officers waived us off,’’ Uebelhardt added. ‘I had no idea, no clue, what was going on at the time, but apparently, we were right there.’’

‘There were helicopters, ambulances and fire trucks everywhere. Then I knew something was going on. My wife called me seconds later and told me about the crash. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for all of my players to figure out what was going on. We were in shock, we still are.’’

-- Sean Ceglinsky