They were four friends who enjoyed hanging out together, classmates just ready to begin their junior year at Jesuit High School in Carmichael, and teen-agers with the promise of life ahead of them.

Matthew Walas, Nicholas Goudberg, Jeremiah Cremins and Gregory Andersen had planned a guys’ night out to celebrate Goudberg’s 17th birthday Aug. 6. Then at approximately 1 a.m. tragedy struck when Goudberg’s 2002 Jeep Liberty crashed into a concrete wall on Arden Way in Sacramento.

Walas, 15, was killed instantly and Goudberg, the driver, died Aug. 14 of critical head injuries.

Cremins, 16, was also critically injured and remains hospitalized. Anderson, 16, who suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung, has been released from the hospital.

A California Highway Patrol investigation of the accident scene indicated excessive speed was a factor in the accident.

Jesuit Father Gregory Bonfiglio, president of Jesuit High School, said the accident and its aftermath have deeply shaken the school community.

“It is our worst nightmare come true,” said Father Bonfiglio during an interview with The Herald. That day the school received the devastating news that Goudberg would be taken off life support and would become an organ donor.

Father Bonfiglio said the past month “has been horrendous for us” with the death of math teacher Micah Lazenby in July, and “now the loss of Matt and of Nick gives our sadness very poignant depths.”

Jesuit High priests, administrators and staff members immediately came together the day of the accident to begin the process of counseling grieving students and family members.

A special Mass of healing attended by 350 people was organized on campus to memorialize Walas and pray for the other boys.

The high school has created a memorial at Grace Court in the center of the campus which has been visited by a steady flow of students still on summer vacation, who come with flowers, letters, photos and candles.

In an Aug. 9 letter to members of the Jesuit High community, Father Bonfiglio and Jesuit Father John McGarry, principal, expressed their commitment to “negotiate together this tragedy” and to assist students and the school community in dealing with their grief.

“God wills that life is long. We know the lives of these young men to be filled with promise and hope,” the letter stated. “Our community stands together.”

During a funeral Mass for Walas celebrated Aug. 10 in Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Carmichael, the honors student was remembered in a homily by Father Bonfiglio as a young man who “lived to make others happy.”

“It was the most important thing in his life to cheer people up,” he said. “He had a knack for being able to know when someone was downÖand he was there with a smile, a hug, a word of advice or a dance.”

A memorial Mass was to celebrated for Goudberg on Aug 19 in Our Lady of the Assumption Church. He was an active member of the Boy Scouts of America who shared his friend Walas’ passion for music.

Tim Warren, dean of students at Jesuit High School, said that the other Sacramento-area Catholic high schools — Christian Brothers, St. Francis and Loretto — have been tremendously supportive in the aftermath of the accident. Christian Brothers’ grief resources for students, parents and teachers is now linked to Jesuit’s Web site at www.jhssac.org.

“We are very grateful to be a part of a community of Catholic schools in the diocese whose support in a myriad of ways has been extraordinary,” Father Bonfiglio said.

Memorial donations for Walas may be made to Jesuit High School, 1200 Jacob Lane, Carmichael, CA 95608, Attention: Matt Walas Memorial Fund.

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