Tyler's triumph

He took the field amid thunderous cheering and heightened anticipation.

Everyone had waited for this moment. They waited through 33 minutes of play and 40 points scored by his teammates. In all respects, the contest was a blowout, a laugher, another one in the win column for a surging Wheatland High football team.

None of that mattered the second Tyler Zepp's cleated foot touched the playing surface. With a nonchalant jog, like he'd been there before, he moseyed to the huddle, relayed the coach's orders and settled in under center.

He took the snap, faked the handoff and looked 10 yards ahead toward the goal line. He was supposed to run, but the linebackers loomed strong and pressure was seeping through the offensive line. Instead, he rolled right, scanned for a receiver and found his best friend open.

Touchdown. Pandemonium. Tears.

Zepp had done it, a pass to paydirt in his first play all season. Now all that was left was to actually get him into the end zone. And there could be no failure. His doctor only cleared him for two snaps.

In six days, No. 6 would have major heart surgery, his life in grave danger if he dare overexert his fragile circulatory system.

On Oct. 9, Zepp wouldn't disappoint. Two plays, two touchdowns.

A devastating discovery

This was going to be Zepp's year. He was slated to be the starting quarterback, one of the standouts, a facilitator of the Pirates' section title aspirations.

All summer he traveled to camps, from the Bay Area to Nevada to down the road at Sacramento State. He lifted weights in the garage and took the half hour trek to Yuba City to workout in an actual gym. Zepp was ready.

Everything changed while practicing routine 3-step drops in warm-ups.

Zepp started to feel weak and asked his coaches if he could take a quick rest. He had felt this feeling a handful of times before, most noticeably last spring when he and his brother Derek were vying for a doubles tennis championship.

"We were planning on going to sections and it happened in the middle of our biggest match," said Zepp, who added he would feel normal again in about an hour and never really publicized his episodes. "Then it went downhill from there."

His chance for a Butte View League crown was lost. After practice on Aug. 18, so was his varsity football career.

Sitting down after complaining of fatigue, an assistant coach tried to take Zepp's pulse but couldn't get a read, it was just too fast to count the beats per minute.

Worries rose.

It led to an immediate care visit. From there it was an ambulance ride to Rideout Memorial Hospital and eventually into the care of Dr. Robert A. Achtel at Sutter North Medical Foundation.

Test after test was inconclusive. The electrocardiogram couldn't identify it. Neither could the ultrasound. It wasn't until Achtel put the 18-year-old in a $3 million, 64-slice CT scan machine that it became apparent: Zepp had a congenital heart defect, needed surgery and had to cease all athletic activity immediately.

"I was hoping for a huge season all year and people were expecting me to be the man to lead the team," Zepp said. "And this happened."

Zepp had a coarctation of the aorta, which is essentially a "kink," Achtel said of Zepp's condition. In this case, Zepp's aorta, the main pipeline that delivers oxygen-rich blood throughout the body, had a part that was "not much bigger than the lead on your pencil."

It was a discovery that may have saved his life. Undiscovered, he "absolutely" could have died, Achtel said.

Still, it did little to temper the fact that everything he worked for was gone. That he would be MIA for a month and a half of his senior year while recovering from the pending surgery.

It was hard for the entire family. For Zepp's mother, it especially stung.

"My son was supposed to be behind the helm and steer the ship," Terri Zepp said. "I was a little mad at God, but now I think it (happened) because there is something more for him."

Always a Pirate

Zepp's parents readily admit their son, complete with his aw-shucks, but still serious personality, handled the news better than they did.

Regardless if Zepp could play, he remained resolved to be a member of the team, ready to help in any possible capacity. So he approached coach Javier Lopez and began assisting the coaches, the players and the equipment manager at every practice and game.

It was Zepp's nature — his whole life was Wheatland sports.

His pictures are on Pirate pennants on the family's refrigerator and in frames on the mantle. A football schedule is pinned up near the kitchen door and a Wheatland blanket lines the couch. His Dad, Jerry, is the booster club president.

Last year Zepp was a three-sport athlete, sandwiching in wrestling between football and tennis.

This year, the kid who was supposed to be the starting quarterback was now fetching water bottles. He did get to throw the occasional pass, but they were landing in the hands of pee wee players. He was also a volunteer with the Jr. Pirates.

Zepp just wanted to help out and be part of the team.

His dedication didn't go unnoticed.

Wheatland's players began writing "TZ #6" on the white "W" decal on their blue helmets. Some of the Jr. Pirates pee wee's scribbled "Tyler Zepp" on tape and wrapped it around their thighs.

"Tyler's been an emotional part of this team that gives us hope," said Vince Vetrone, who would haul in Zepp's 10-yard touchdown pass. "Not to use a pun or anything, but he has the biggest heart out of all of us."

A plan and a note

Before going under the knife, there was no doubt that the Pirates would honor Zepp.

After watching Wheatland go 4-1 while wearing jeans on the sideline, the plan was to have Zepp suit up, let him come out with the team and be a captain.

His coach thought, why not take it a step further? Lopez asked Jerry Zepp if Tyler could get clearance to take the field, even if it was just for a few snaps.

They asked Achtel for four plays. His doctor gave them two.

"With his (condition) his blood pressure skyrockets when he exercises," Achtel said, who signed a succinct note. "Two plays, minimal running and they had to be brief."

For the Pirates' BVL opener against Orland, Zepp would see the field.

That wasn't enough for Lopez.

In the team's pregame meeting before kickoff, he put his arm around Zepp's padded shoulder and addressed the team.

"Here's a young man that inspires everybody and does it without even stepping on the field, we owe him something," Lopez said. "We need to put him in the end zone, he is going to get into the end zone tonight."

'Tyler!, Tyler!, Tyler!'

The morning of the game, Zepp nervously pondered what was 12 hours away while eating his Pop Tarts.

He had been to 20 doctors appointments in the last two months but has not lifted a single weight. His only passes were with a smaller-sized ball to seventh graders while helping the Jr. Pirates.

Over breakfast, he nervously asked himself, "What if I screw up in front of everybody?"

Come game time, though, he was ready.

"To tell you the truth I was completely calm," he said.

His first chance came in the third quarter, with Wheatland on the 10-yard line. Heading out amid adulation from the fans, Zepp connected with Vetrone to send the crowd, his teammates and his family into a tizzy.

While his fellow Pirates mobbed him, Zepp remained his usual stoic self, tying not to play to the crowd, and wearing a look of modesty when he did acknowledge them. It's his style. This was the same kid who threw a pass to Jerry Rice over the summer and didn't tell his parents, avid 49ers fans, about it.

"That's how Tyler is, he didn't show a lot of emotion, he took it in stride," Lopez said.

Many in the stands and the sideline couldn't hold it in.

"I got a little bit choked up. At that moment it's beyond football," Lopez said. "This is one of those moments you know your never going to forget, it's why you coach."

Still , Lopez proclaimed Zepp "was going to get into the end zone."

It would happen, thanks to a selfless act.

The second score

Vetrone has 12 touchdowns this season. By all accounts he should have 13.

It was late in the third quarter and the Pirates were nearing the red zone. Vetrone took the handoff, broke through the middle, shot right and ran until he was pushed out at the three.

Really? Vince Vetrone, the same kid who can both juke and jackhammer with ease, was pushed out?

"Am I going to say he went out of bounds on purpose, I don't know, only Vince knows that," Lopez said. "But if I run the same play nine more times...Vince gets in every time."

Said Vetrone: "I wanted to get him as close as I could."

While the Pirates were moving up their field, Zepp was practicing snaps with backup center Nate Livingston. Because they only had one shot, Lopez decided to bring him in with Zepp — they were comfortable together and couldn't risk complications.

Other's begged to join them.

"I had a line of players behind me that wanted to go in...and be a part of it, make a block for him and get him in there," Lopez said. "That says a lot about these kids, it says a lot about Tyler."

With the crowd again wound up, chanting Zepp's name, Lopez looked at Livingston and uttered, "Nate, get him in."

It was really, really close. Zepp took the handoff and charged up the middle, a QB sneak. There was no immediate reaction from the officials. The line judges ran in, relative quiet filled the stands.

Once the hands went up, everyone exploded. Less than a week before a risky operation, Zepp had scored the first two varsity touchdowns of his high school career. The kid who worked so hard to be the quarterback ended his senior season with perfection, two scores and a 167 passer rating.

Naturally, he was carried off the field.

Repaired and ready to get back

A little after 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, Zepp arrived at Sutter Memorial Hospital for his surgery.

He said he was "going to be nervous", but knew that God "will look out for him."

Later that morning, Dr. Teimour A. Nasirov went "on the clock."

The director of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery with the Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute had just entered the most critical phase of Zepp's operation, where he "puts clamps on the aorta" and has to interrupt "the flow to the lower part of the body."

In 20-30 minutes, signs of paralysis will start to show. In that time he had to "cut out and sew the two ends together" to fix Zepp's condition, Achtel said.

Nasirov finished in six.

The surgery, which occurs outside the heart, took Nasirov an hour and a half total. Later that day, his mother confirmed he was doing well. On Saturday, friends visited an alert Zepp, presenting him with a banner signed by a gaggle of Wheatland students.

It will take time to heal, but Zepp will live a normal and healthier life, his surgeon said.

"You increase the nutritious blood flow to the lower part of the body and improve heart function as well," Nasirov said.

Terri Zepp said the goal is for Tyler to be ready for tennis season. He want's to be ready to go for wrestling, a natural goal for someone who loves contact and hates to quit.

After running in for his second touchdown, Zepp approached an assistant coach and asked to get put in on defense.

“I wanted to get in and hit somebody,” he said.