Reedley High football player travels to San Francisco for cancer treatment

REEDLEY, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Reedley High athlete will soon start another round of chemotherapy.

The football team woke up dark and early for Friday Morning Football -- not only to show their school spirit ahead of Friday's game, but to cheer on their teammate Malachi Rios.

"We had him the first two games and he scored just all of our touchdowns and he was a key component of our defense," said Coach Tony Gates.

In August, Malachi hit the field for what may have been the last game of his high school career.

Last December, he found out he had stage 4 testicular cancer.

In May, he was in remission.

However, a few weeks before this season started - he learned his cancer returned.

He started chemotherapy soon after his last football game.

On Saturday, he'll head to San Francisco for another round.

"He's up with some experts in San Francisco," said Coach Gates. "In fact, tomorrow morning, I'm going to go and see him before he leaves."

The football team, along with the Reedley community, is holding onto faith.

They said if there's one person who could win a fight against cancer -- it's Malachi, someone who is mentally and physically strong.

"We always say we want dogs on defense, and he is definitely a dog," Gates said. "He's the guy that says 'You're not going to get this first down.'"

Malachi's treatment in SF is expected to last at least a month, and he's got a whole team of loved ones cheering from the sidelines.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help during his fight against cancer.

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