RANCHO CUCAMONGA – Walk into Aymen Ghabrial’s Wings and Rings restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga and the first thing you see above one of the 33 TVs in the place are two signed No. 7 jerseys: C.J. Stroud’s purple Cougars jersey that he wore in high school, five minutes away. And his red Ohio State Buckeyes jersey.
It’s only a matter of time until Ghabrial, the franchisee, gets one of Stroud’s Houston Texans jerseys autographed to put beside them – and until Stroud gets past the AFC title game where his first two professional seasons have now ended.
At least to hear the regulars at Wings and Rings tell it.
Twenty or so of them gathered there Saturday for brewski and banter, and to see Stroud and his Texans lose to three-peat-seeking Kansas City Chiefs, 23-14.
It was the opening act in an Inland Empire-quarterback twin bill; in the late game on the NFL’s playoff docket, Jayden Daniels, the rookie sensation from San Bernardino, held the reins for the Washington Commanders in their 45-31 NFC divisional round victory against the top-seeded Detroit Lions.
For his part, Stroud – now 2-2 in the playoffs – has managed to make fans of the Rams, Chargers, Raiders, 49ers, Packers, Lions, Jets, Bears, Broncos and Chiefs* all root for his Texans.
* Not Saturday, though: Sherri Strohman, an Alta Loma resident, has been rooting for Kansas City since Joe Montana finished his career there in 1993 and ’94. So she wasn’t on Stroud’s side this game. Generally speaking, though, “I think C.J. is great,” she said, adding later: “He is so dang accurate.”
There are no actual Texans among the folks, but there is plenty of pride in the local guy Stroud: “It’s pretty awesome,” Steve Lapin said. “I love it whenever local kids make it – I’m just kind of upset because the Raiders didn’t try to get him.”
There’s also a real appreciation for Stroud’s story as someone who’s ascended to the top of his field despite not starting as Rancho Cucamonga’s quarterback until he was a junior. Last season’s NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year was all but ignored by recruiters until Colorado called on Christmas Eve of that junior year. That’s an important lesson for kids, Ghabrial believes.
It helps that Stroud is known as a good guy, a nice kid. Some of the folks on hand Saturday have met him, some of their kids went to school with him, but none knows him as well as Rancho Cucamonga’s Athletic Director Bill Burke, the de facto leader of this C.J. Stroud supporter group.
Burke is the one who provided the commemorative T-shirts at Wings and Rings for the NFL Draft in 2023, when the place was packed to see Stroud go No. 2 behind Bryce Young, a big moment captured and broadcast by ESPN cameras.
Burke wasn’t able to be with his crew Saturday because he’s also the Rancho Cucamonga boys’ basketball coach – as he was when Stroud was a two-sport star at the school – and the Cougars had business in Hermosa Beach. But he was there in spirit: “Those are my people,” he texted. “Love them.”
And they all have love for Stroud, who battled Saturday, but who was left looking a lot like Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert the previous week, when the Texans turned up the pressure so much it made it tough for Herbert to operate in a game Houston won, 32-12.
Herbert threw four interceptions and Stroud didn’t throw any, but the Rancho Cucamonga product faced a career-high 23 total pressures en route to a 245-yard, no-touchdown day. He was swallowed up and sacked eight times, each one drawing a groan from everyone but Strohman and her party, who included her 94-year-old father, Bill.
Houston’s array of special teams miscues drew eye rolls too, as did each of Taylor Swift’s appearances on screen from the mostly anti-Chiefs contingent. Everyone marveled at how Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes’ favorite target, always manages to get so dang open. And, yes, there were protests aplenty about the officiating:
Sherri Strohman: “Flag on the play!”
Danny Walker, a 49ers fan, shot back sarcastically, expecting a phantom penalty: “Of course there is; he got sacked.”
There was a lot of good-natured ribbing between friends going on Saturday, a steady stream of civil smack-talk at this bar-restaurant where everybody really did know everybody’s name. A little like Stroud has made everyone know that Rancho Cucamonga isn’t some made-place in Ice Cube’s 2000 comedy “Next Friday.”
Ghabrial’s 16-year-old son, Aiden, a pitcher for the Cougars junior varsity baseball team, said he gets a kick out of hearing athletes from other schools buzz about being at Rancho Cucamonga, “C.J. Stroud’s school!”
“The whole community is behind him,” said Aymen Ghabrial, a lifelong soccer fan (Liverpool) and recent NFL convert, whose neighborhood hangout of a restaurant sponsors the minor league Quakes, local Little League teams and Rancho Cucamonga High.
“He’s our boy,” Ghabrial added. “We’re so proud of him its not very often that you see one of our locals make it … and he is a star. And he’s a good example of the other kids in the community.”
No one at this welcoming Rancho Cucamonga establishment seemed too torn up Saturday about the Texans’ loss. Probably in some part because they were all enjoying each other’s company so much, and because they all believe even better days are ahead yet for Stroud. The theme: Just look at how much he’s accomplished already!
They’ll be watching whatever comes next. And they’d be back Sunday to watch the Rams face the Philadelphia Eagles. To cheer and chow down on Ghabrial’s fresh-never-frozen chicken and his tasty onion rings – you can run an option on those, classic or smoky BBQ chipotle – coming together to root for their teams and for their guy to win the ring.