The raft carrying six Heritage football players and their guide dropped quickly as it tried to maneuver through the Oak Springs Rapids on the Deschutes River near Maupin, Ore., its bow dipping into the water first, then its stern.
Within a second, the raft violently bounced back to the surface and only two remained completely on board.
Zach Hall heard the scream. Immediately, he knew it was go time.
Erinn Criswell, the raft’s guide, was in the water, and she could barely move.
“My knee is broken!” she screamed.
Hall, a junior linebacker for the Timberwolves, leaned over the raft and yanked her out of the water.
Quarterback Riley O’Dell, the other person who did not go overboard, was busy helping his teammates — shaken but not injured — get back in the raft. Running back Michael Rivers was one of the first players to get back on board, and he took control of rowing the craft out of the danger zone, away from the Class IV rapids.
The rafting trip is a tradition now for the Heritage football program.
Every year, several players head to central Oregon to celebrate the end of training camp with a day on the Deschutes River. It is a fun outing, for sure, but it also can get intense. Rafting is not for the faint of heart.
With Hall taking charge — using the lifeguard training that he learned this summer — and O’Dell and Rivers following Hall’s lead, the three best friends were instrumental in successfully dealing with a medical emergency.
“It was nice to know my guys have my back when the poop hits the fan,” Hall said with a smile.
Nearly two weeks after the incident, Criswell said in a phone interview that she is fine and her dislocated kneecap is starting to feel better. She cannot say enough about the aid she received that day on the river.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be with me on that trip,” Criswell said of Hall. “He was very soothing. He was just really adorable and super helpful.”
She noted how the players — led by Rivers — quickly acted to get the raft down river. She remembered hearing another player reminding everyone to “stay positive.”
“I was really thankful for their presence,” she said.
In all, it took about 90 minutes from the time of the injury before an ambulance whisked Criswell away. Hall was with her every minute.
“It went from a great time, to ‘Wow, this is really happening,’ ” O’Dell said.
Friends for years, they had never been together in an emergency situation. Hall’s friends were impressed.
“Zach pretty much turned into being the guide,” Rivers said.
Although it was no longer a rafting trip but a rescue mission.
“The first question I asked her was, ‘What’s your phone number?’ ” Hall said.
Criswell acknowledged she gave him a strange look. Today, his friends give Hall a hard time about that question. But there was a reason behind the inquiry.
“He kept asking me questions, making sure I wasn’t going into shock,” she said.
“I could tell you a million things about her now,” Hall said. “I asked her what her favorite food is. She said ‘I used to be a vegetarian but now my favorite food is meaty lasagna.’”
Hall and O’Dell supported Criswell’s weight as she tried to rest in the raft, trying to keep her right leg still. The raft, partially on the rocks on the shore and partially in the water, swayed to the river’s rhythm. The more she moved, the more it hurt, so Hall and O’Dell held her tight.
When Criswell started getting cold, Hall suggested to his teammates that they offer their shirts to be used as blankets. All complied.
About 45 minutes into the ordeal, O’Dell and Rivers were asked to go down river on another party’s raft to catch up with the rest of the football team. Hall, though, stayed with Criswell.
By then, someone had flagged down a bus on a nearby road, asking for help. The bus would travel another 15 miles before finding cell coverage to call the ambulance.
More help arrived to the raft, as well, and there was some talk of moving Criswell out of the raft and up the steep, rocky hill to the road.
Hall would have none of it.
“No, we’re not moving her. She’s staying here until a backboard gets here and she gets some medicine,” he recalled saying.
“He totally took charge,” said Criswell, who at the time was in excruciating pain and was scared of the thought of being moved. “He was very adamant that I was not to be moved.”
Instead, they all waited for the ambulance and a medic who administered pain medicine prior to the move.
His teammates and Criswell say that Hall made all the right calls that day. Interestingly, it wouldn’t have happened without his decision to become a lifeguard this summer.
“Without the training, I wouldn’t have had been as confident as I was,” Hall said. “I wouldn’t have known what to do.”
“It was like I lost him as a friend for two weeks because he was training so much to be a lifeguard,” Rivers said.
No one is complaining now.
“I was glad Zach was able to help,” Rivers said, “because I know I wouldn’t have been able to.”
Hall, though, said that just like on the football field, tackling this situation truly became a team effort. All six Timberwolves on that raft — including Joey Cooper, Matt Kleven, and Tony Hergert — played a part in the operation. Hall just happened to be the captain of the team that day.
Heritage football coach Nate Becksted, who was sick that weekend, missed the rafting trip. When he heard what happened, he was not surprised that his players excelled.
“Zach took the lead role, but the other kids did a good job of stepping up and following instructions,” Becksted said. “Teamwork and ability got them out of there, and Zach’s medical training really helped.”
The trip, a celebration, is meant as a time for the players to bond away from the football field.
“We bonded in a different way,” Hall said. “A more serious way.”
