High school football coach gets his first win and baby on same night

Pomona Diamond Ranch Coach Jimmy Welker received a phone call from his wife, Jody, at halftime of last Friday’’s football game against Rosemead. She told him she was going into labor and was headed to the hospital.

Welker, 29, a first-year head coach who was a quarterback at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and a member of LSU’s 2007 national championship team, finished coaching the game. Security and staff were alerted that Welker needed to leave as soon as the game was completed.

After Diamond Ranch defeated Rosemead, 49-0, for Welker’s first varsity coaching victory, he walked across the field, shook hands with the opposing players and coaches, then gathered his own team around him to announce he had to go to the hospital to join his wife. They started cheering and shouting.

“I flew down the freeway,” Welker said. “About three hours after I arrived, the baby was born.”

Madison Elizabeth Welker was born at 1:04 a.m. and weighed 8 lbs 2 oz.

“It was the best day of my life,” Welker said after the birth of the couple’s first child.

Welker spent two days in the hospital with his wife and young daughter. He still found time to prepare for this week’s game against Ayala.

“I did all my scouting while the baby was asleep on my phone,” he said.

The wonders of technology.

“It was a whirlwind experience,” he said.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer