The Lee County Sheriff’s Office closed its investigation into the death of Riverdale (Fort Myers, Fla.) football player Zachary Martin Polsenberg, ruling the 16-year-old died accidentally from hyperthermia caused by heat exposure.

Polsenberg collapsed at the end of a summer workout on June 29 at Riverdale and died on July 10 at Jackson Health Center in Miami.

EARLIER: Fla. teen dies after suffering heat stroke at football practice

According to the sheriff’s report, the 6-foot-5, 320-pound offensive lineman collapsed as the team huddled at the end of a three-hour practice that consisted of weight lifting and agility drills inside and running outdoors. Teammates interviewed said Polsenberg said he did not feel right and laid down at the back of the huddle.

Coaches poured water on Polsenberg, who started convulsing and threw up, according to witnesses.

Polsenberg’s mother, Laurie Giordano, told investigators she arrived at the school around 10:17 a.m. or 10:18 a.m. and saw the team go into a huddle. About 10 to 15 minutes later a player from the team came to her car and told her Polsenberg was down on the field.

When she got to the field head coach James Delgado asked Giordano if she wanted him to call 911 and she said yes. Her son was “in a seated position, his eyes were closed, he was moaning and had already thrown up on his shirt,” Giordano told investigators.

The Fort Myers Shores Fire Department responded first and found Polsenberg breathing irregularly, with a body temperature of 101 degrees and he vomited again, according to the sheriff’s report.

Polsenberg’s family had previously stated he fell into a coma and that doctors told them his core temperature registered 107 degrees for more than an hour.

EMS arrived shortly after the fire department, about 10 to 15 minutes after the 911 call, Giordano told police, and transported Polsenberg to Golisano Children’s Hospital. Polsenberg never regained consciousness on his way to the hospital.

Through a spokesperson Polsenberg’s family declined comment on the police report.

“The family is still reviewing it and has no statement at this time,” the family said.

For more, visit the Fort Myers News-Press

Gilbert (Ariz.) Perry is getting ready to play the biggest game this season on Friday at defending 6A champion Chandler.

But football is taking backseat this week, as Perry players deal with the drowning death of sophomore defensive back Brayden Mason, a junior varsity player who was close to being cleared from an injury to play. The incident occurred last Sunday at Bartlett Lake.

Mason, an up-and-coming player who figured in Perry’s future plans, was 15.

It shocked the Perry community.

“He’s our family and right now all we can do is be there for his family and keep everyone together,” varsity coach Preston Jones said.

The Chandler Unified School District is on fall break this week, so it’s been harder to do that.

“He was a good player, great kid,” Jones said.

Counselors have been offered to the players in the program, despite no school this week.

The program is trying to collect enough money to offer something to the Mason family and to have something in Mason’s honor that stays at the school.

Patches are expected to be worn for Friday’s game at Chandler.

And collections are being taken for all three levels games this week — freshman, JV and varsity.

On the ‘Perry HIgh School Touchdown Club — Go Pumas’ Facebook page, this was posted on Wednesday:

Thank you for the outpouring of support for the Mason Family and Puma Nation. At this time, the family is planning a private service for Brayden. The Perry Football family will be collecting donations in the stands during the following football games this week; Wednesday at Chandler (6pm), Thursday at Perry (6pm) & Friday at Chandler (7pm). For those who are not local and have asked where to send cards, donations, and condolences we will be collecting them on behalf of the family. They can be sent to the Mason Family, c/o Frank Mason P.O. Box 11963, Chandler, AZ 85248. We would like to respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time so will update information as we receive it.

This is the second time this season that the Perry football program has rallied to help during a tragic circumstance.

In early September, two-way JV lineman Alex Edjourian’s family lost their home in a fire.

LEBANON, Ind. – The decision is the hard part, and it’s coming. It’s always coming. Robert Muse-Myers is a Lebanon senior, one of the fastest cross-country runners in the area, and soon he’ll have a choice to make – but not too soon. He’s running the first mile in 5 minutes, 20 seconds. He’s cruising. His thoughts are happy, for now.

He thinks of his mother, so funny and so welcoming, the way she lights up a room. He thinks of his father, trying so hard to recover from alcoholism. Robby passes the mile marker, and he starts to feel the pain. He could slow down, you know. He doesn’t have to run this fast. Not like a pack of wolves is chasing him.

Though it could be something scarier.

Running that far, that fast – it’s not normal. It hurts. The decision is coming. On Saturday at the IHSAA Noblesville Regional, the decision will come toward the end of the 3.1-mile race.

Quit, Robby. You don’t have to do this.

He doesn’t know who’s talking to him. He never does. But he can hear those words over the screaming in his lungs, and he can feel them over the burning in his legs. His thoughts are not happy, not anymore.

He remembers finding his mom in her bed, not asleep, not alive. Robby touches her arm, and recoils at how cold it is. He compresses her chest down and up, down and up, but it won’t move, not ever again. He can still smell death on his hands. He was in seventh grade.

He remembers the phone call nine months later. Robby’s dad, trying so damn hard to quit drinking, doesn’t have to try anymore. Doctors say it was a heart attack. He’s gone. Robby was in eighth grade.

Quit, Robby. You don’t have to do this.

Two miles down. He doesn’t have to decide. Not yet. Now Robby is thinking of his sisters, how they’ve loved and supported him. He’s thinking of his friends at Lebanon High, how they’ve championed him, voting him class president as a freshman and sophomore, and crowning him Prom King as a junior. He’s thinking of his math teacher, Mr. Adkins, more than a math teacher, a friend who checks on Robby. Just to make sure he’s OK.

He’s thinking of his coach, Shelley West, more than a coach, a beautiful soul who stepped in after his parents died and tried to fill the emotional and financial crevices.

He’s thinking of Jeff and Julie Toole, strangers who scooped him up in the last year. They have five sons, including a sophomore runner named Camren, but now they have six. They’ve taken in Robby, provided for him in ways he never thought possible.

Off in the distance, somewhere he can’t yet see, the finish line is coming and Robert Muse-Myers makes his decision. It’s the same decision he makes each time the pain starts whispering to him, well into a journey that won’t end here.

* * *

He leaves it by the front door. Every year.

That’s Robby. He pulls into Shelley West’s driveway, hops out and rings the doorbell. Then he’s gone. He’s done it for three years now, and still it catches his cross-country coach by surprise when she opens the door to find nobody, just flowers and a card she’ll read on the porch.

Happy Mother’s Day! When my mom died in 2013, I was left without a parent figure and guidance. As I was living in the darkest part of my life, you helped me fight through it. You taught me to get up, even when fatigued. You might not realize it, but you gave sunlight to a rose that was surrounded by concrete.

“He’s just so wise beyond his years,” Shelley West is saying, or trying to say, as the tears start to fall. “I really don’t realize what I’m doing for him, but he makes me see it. How many kids do that? Just a phenomenal young man. The teachers are always bragging on how he’s a leader in the classroom, such a positive role model. Everyone gravitates to him. I tell him he’s my magnet.”

Robby has been team captain since freshman year. On race day when he trots off for a warm-up run, teammates trot in his wake. At some point Robby tries to get away, gather his thoughts for the physical and psychological warfare he’s about to wage on himself, but he can’t. They follow.

“Hey,” West tells his teammates, “let Robby do his own thing for a minute.”

He’ll go off alone, long and lean at 5-9, short brown hair and giant blue eyes and just the spitting image of his father as a boy. Robby will think about his dad, Robert Nelson Myers Jr. – Robby is Robert Nelson Muse-Myers III – and wrestle with life’s random cruelty. His dad and mom never married, fighting but staying together until Sherri Muse kicked him out. By then the Department of Child Services had removed Robby from the home once, but only briefly. When he was 7 or 8, his dad went to rehab in California and resurfaced in Connecticut and later Florida.

“His fatal flaw,” Robby says of his father’s drinking. “He never overcame that.”

Back in Lebanon, Robby’s mom was sick and getting worse. She suffered from multiple sclerosis and Graves’ disease, and medication played tricks on her mind. Normally so upbeat and delightful, she’d get muddled and not recognize her kids. One time she chased an imaginary rabbit with a broom. Another time she confused the family dog, a Labrador mix named Hanson, for a giant rat.

Doctors told Robby and his sisters that the day was coming when Sherri would go to sleep and just … not wake up. That day came Jan. 6, 2013. Robby found her.

“You know in movies, the body’s cold?” he says. “It was cold, cold. Frozen, almost.”

Robby, the second-youngest of seven children, was the one calling 911 and comforting his sisters. One of them, Jacy, took in Robby and their youngest sister Sara, but it wasn’t easy. Jacy was just 21 herself, and she had another sibling to worry about, one in jail. Habitat for Humanity built the family a home, but money was tight. Since he was in middle school, Shelley West and other Lebanon teachers have donated cash and clothes, often anonymously. He calls them “the best mentors and teachers a kid could ask for.” Add he knew it was them.

“She doesn’t know this, but I knew,” he says of Shelley West, and now tears are magnifying those big blue eyes. “She’s always been there, talking to me, getting me whatever I needed. She’s the only one who believed in me from the beginning.”

His dad was living down in Florida when Robby’s mom died. Robert Jr. started coming to Indiana just to eat with Robby, just to talk with him. At first Robby was angry. So angry.

“I had a lot of resentment toward him,” he says. “My mom’s going through this stuff, and you’re not here. I had a lot of anger built up, but when my Mom passed I was like: Hey, I really want to reconnect with my dad. We were getting really close and I was really enjoying him, and then he passed away from a heart attack.”

Essentially raising himself, Robby tried. By God, the kid tried. He was a student who made C’s and D’s, a cross country runner who ran in the middle of the pack – “I was a slacker,” he says – until his parents died. He went looking for motivational speakers and watched them on YouTube. He attended school leadership camps. He signed up for all Advanced Placement classes and began getting A’s and B’s. He was training harder, running faster, a vortex of self-improvement who now has a 3.7 GPA and college teams recruiting him.

“It was just something in me,” he says. “I don’t know what was talking to me, but it was saying: ‘You’re so much better than you think you are. You can do a lot more than this. Just put your head down and go through this.’ When my parents died, it made me put a lot more value on life. If you’re just out there wasting time, then what are you doing?”

But he has not done it alone. He wants that clear. You know that saying, it takes a village to raise a child?

“Lebanon has been my village,” Robby says.

And he wants to give back. After college and a few years on a regular job, he wants to get into local politics. For now he’s on the Lebanon Youth Council, working with Mayor Matt Gentry and the school board to rename Essex Drive, just south of the high school, “Tiger Way.”

“Those kids are all extremely high achievers,” Mayor Gentry says of the Youth Council, “but Robby’s a high achiever within that group. He’s been a great partner to me, and a great leader.”

Imagine: Kid loses both parents within nine months, and this kid, this eighth-grader – this self-described slacker – makes the decision to fight.

“You grow through adversity,” Robby says, “and there’s beauty in the struggle.”

* * *

She was on the deck, reading her Bible. Julie Toole doesn’t know where Robby had been hiding those flowers, but he handed her the bouquet and a hand-written card and then watched her read it.

Happy Mother’s Day. Thank you so much for what you’ve done for me. I can’t put into words a thank you great enough to express my gratitude, but this is a start. Thank you.

Love your new son,

Robert

Robby was still living with his sisters, Jacy and Sara, when he met the Toole family last year. It was cross country season, the night before the 2016 sectional, and the team gathered at then-freshman Camren Toole’s house for a big carb dinner. Outside was Robby’s car, a shark-gray 2002 Cadillac DeVille he’d bought for $800 he’d earned working at McDonald’s. The car gave a metallic shriek every time someone opened the passenger door.

Inside, Robby had a problem: His glasses had broken again. When they first fell apart months earlier, Robby grabbed a plastic tag off a shirt and melted it over the broken pieces. But now it came apart again, and Julie Toole was asking Robby if she could get him new glasses. Yes, he finally said, and soon he had two new pair and was wearing contacts for the first time in his life.

“I’m not used to that, because I don’t really come from a background of a lot of money,” Robby says. “She took care of me.”

It continued. Jeff and Julie bought him clothes and noticed how he always wore them when he visited Camren. Come to us for anything you need, they told Robby. He wouldn’t come, so they put money in an account and gave him a card to buy his gas, his deodorant, whatever. When his car insurance lapsed, the Tooles added Robby to their policy. Robby drove his $800 DeVille up their driveway for his insurance card. Julie Toole gestured toward the garage.

Inside was a 2014 Ford Focus, silver with a red bow.

“Now do you now understand,” Julie told him, “that we mean business?”

Robby moved in a few months later. The Tooles had decorated their basement with a bed, furniture, a desk for schoolwork and poster-sized pictures: action photos of Robby, running in races. Julie will get on him, though. She lets him hear it when his room’s a mess, and Robby does chores, same as Camren and his four brothers. Julie also has this thing: You live here, you get a summer job. When Camren became a lifeguard in June at the Lebanon Park Pool, Robby decided to join him. He’s not much of a swimmer, but he worked until he passed the test. He became a lifeguard.

“My boys say: ‘Mom, you treat him just like us,’” Julie says. “Well, yeah. And we’ve already explained to him: You know when you go off to college, you don’t just leave. You still have a bedroom here. This is your home, Robby. You still come home for Thanksgiving break, for Christmas. You’re still part of this family.”

Last month the Tigers had Senior Night, with each senior supposed to escort his parents to the starting line. That presented Robert Muse-Myers, neither of his parents alive, with a choice. So many tough decisions this kid has had to make, and at Senior Night he made his: Shelley West on one arm, Julie Toole on the other.

Last week, Camren Toole was given an assignment in his sophomore English class: Write a paper on something that has changed your life. Well, you know high school boys. They don’t talk much about feelings, certainly not to their parents, and Camren has never said any of this to his mom. But the other day he handed Julie his paper. She read to the end, where Camren had written this:

Robby gave me an entire new perspective on the world. He taught me to not take anything for granted, to help others out whenever I can, and he showed me that every person has a different background. I could not be more thankful for the family that I now have, which consists of me, my parents, and my FIVE brothers.

Julie Toole will be at Noblesville on Saturday. By the time she sees Robby it will be the end of the race, after he has made his decision: Get to the finish line as fast as possible. Family is waiting, including the mother who appeared when he needed one most.

For more, visit the Indianapolis Star

Blake Holliday, an outstanding two-sport athlete who helped Belton-Honea Path (S.C.) win consecutive Class AAA baseball state championships in 2015 and 2016, died Tuesday afternoon.

Holliday, 19, suffered critical injuries in an ATV accident Thursday afternoon. He had been in critical condition at Greenville Memorial Hospital since. Holliday was airlifted to the hospital following an accident on Major and Rube Ashley roads in Belton.

Anderson County deputy coroner Don McCown said the cause of death was head trauma.

Holliday was a the dominant pitcher on the back-to-back state championship teams at BHP. He signed a baseball scholarship at Clemson and was a redshirt member of the team in the 2016-17 academic year and transferred to Erskine College in the fall.

Holliday was the state’s Class AAA Player of the Year in 2016, when he was 12-1 as a pitcher while producing five home runs and 31 RBI as a hitter.

“I’m just proud to go out with two championships,’ Holliday told an Anderson Independent Mail writer in June 2016. “That will be unforgettable, something we will have for the rest of our lives.”

In that June 2016 article, BHP coach Steve Williams said Holliday had “grown as a young man and matured on the field,” and had developed into a team leader.

“It has been a pleasure to write his name on a lineup card, knowing what he brings to the table game in, game out,” Williams said of Holliday.

Holliday became a legendary figure in BHP baseball when he delivered the game-winning hit, breaking up a no-hitter by Camden’s Will Abbott in the bottom of the seventh inning of a deciding playoff game.  A season earlier, he earned a save in an extra-inning championship game victory against Hartsville.

Nick O’Shea came home from football practice, and his driveway was filled with several police cars. He parked on the street.

“There were four police officers,” O’Shea said. “One of the officers asked me, ‘Where is your mom?’ I said, ‘I think at work; I don’t know.’ He said, ‘How old are you?’ And because I’m 17, he could tell me.”

His father, Dan O’Shea, had died of a heart attack on Oct. 10. He was 52.

“I didn’t start crying,” Nick said. “It didn’t seem real.”

After his mother, Lisa O’Shea, came home, Nick didn’t know what to do, so he called his football coach, Ron Bellamy, the head coach at West Bloomfield (Mich.).

“Send me your address,” Bellamy said.

Bellamy rushed to O’Shea’s house, along with two assistant coaches.

“The first night it wasn’t that tough because it was surreal,” O’Shea said.

“Coach Bell was like, ‘We are here for you. You don’t have to go to school tomorrow. You don’t have to practice. You don’t have to play Friday. You don’t have to play the rest of the season. We are here for you. Whatever you need.’”

One of the assistant coaches called my son, Nick.

Nick O’Shea and my son are best friends and teammates. Nick O’Shea is the kicker, my son is the holder.

A few minutes later, my son came downstairs, took the remote out of my hand, turned off the TV and sat down, looking almost blank, like all the blood had rushed out of his face.

“Nick O’Shea’s dad died,” my son said.

It felt like I had been punched in the gut.

Over the last few years, we had spent several nights in the stands, watching our sons play football. But Dan was the first to admit that he didn’t really know the nuances of football. He was a soccer guy. He played at Oakland University and was a long-time travel soccer coach.

My son headed out the door. Several members of the football team headed over to O’Shea’s house, which only seemed natural. The O’Shea house is like a magnet for teenagers, a place where the proverbial door is always open and everyone is always welcome.

After midnight, my son came home, still looking stunned.

“How is Nick?” I asked.

“Pretty messed up,” my son said.

So was my son.

“Nobody grieves the same way,” I said.

‘I’ve never gone through this’

The next morning, Bellamy met O’Shea in the parking lot at the high school and walked him into the building so he wouldn’t get bombarded by students.

West Bloomfield football coach Ron Bellamy. (Photo: Kirt Dozier/Detroit Free Press)

The school brought in grief counselors because Dan O’Shea was beloved by so many kids. About 20 players were pulled out of class. They spent the day grieving and crying and staring into space and rubbing tears from their eyes.

“I wasn’t eating and coach Bell forced me to eat,” O’Shea said. “He offered to pick me up and bring him to his house, if I needed to get away. He offered to let me sleep over at his house. He was really cool about everything. He never tried act like he knew what I was going through. He said, ‘I’ve never gone through this.’ ”

All week, my son came home from practice and described how the team was dealing with it. How the coaches and players were growing incredibly close. How they were supporting Nick and helping him, just hanging out with him. And how they were coming up with contingency plans, in case Nick changed his mind and didn’t want to play Friday night.

“You guys are handling this so freaking well,” I texted Bellamy.

“I love these kids,” Bellamy texted back. “I hurt when they hurt.”

‘Great coach, an even better man’

Great coaches can inspire and cajole, comfort and support. They can influence lives in profound ways, far beyond what happens on the field. And Dan O’Shea was one of those coaches. He coached travel soccer for years. Over the past few days, his Facebook page filled with beautiful tributes from former players.

“A great coach, an even better man, and a wonderful role model for our boys and so many kids. We are very sad. Rest in Peace Coach.”

Dan O’Shea was known for being humble. For connecting with kids in a genuine way. For having an amazing sense of humor.

“Dan O’Shea was simply one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in soccer. Privileged to have known him and had my son coached by him. Such a positive force in the world. He will be missed.”

Dan O’Shea had a way of making every player feel important, no matter if he was a superstar or the last kid on the bench.

“Dan’s humble nature and his ability to make others feel important made him so very likable by all who met him. Dan had great love for his family and friends. He was a devoted husband to his high school sweetheart, Lisa, and the proud father of Jess, 19, and Nick, 17. Dan’s passion for life and family was matched by his great passion for the game of soccer, which he shared with family and friends. He contributed to the game of soccer as a player, coach, and administrator, and made lifelong friends along the way.”

Dan and Lisa met while working at a Little Caesars pizza place, dated for nine years and were married for 24. Everybody says the same thing about them: they were meant for each other, two soccer players who were soulmates.

“RIP Coach Dan!! Your impact on these young men and the many others before them will last a lifetime.”

Several hundred attended his memorial service on Monday night, the room overflowing with former soccer players and soccer coaches and Nick’s football coaches, teammates and all of their friends and family and neighbors, who cried and laughed and told hilarious stories, raising their glasses and toasting this man.

“How Blessed they were to have Dan as their coach. How Blessed we are as parents that he helped shape the young men they’ve become.”

‘Dad wanted me to play’

Late Friday afternoon, just three days after his father died, Nick O’Shea stood on the sideline, warming up before West Bloomfield played at Southfield. The conference title was on the line. So was a playoff berth.

Lisa O’Shea sat in the stands, surrounded by a couple dozen family members and friends, including former soccer players and coaches.

On the first series, a drive stalled and Nick O’Shea went out for the field goal. It felt like the most important kick I’ve ever seen in my life.

West Bloomfield’s Nick Seidel holds for Nick O’Shea, who kicks an extra point in the third quarter against Rochester Adams, Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 in Rochester, Mich. (Photo: Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press)

Nick nailed it, a 34-yarder, as his mother smiled, and I teared up, and West Bloomfield’s student section, better known as “The Swamp,” began to sing like they were at a European soccer match.

O-SHEA!

O-SHEA! O-SHEA! O-SHEA!

O’Shea had the game of his life. He kicked two field goals (including a 41-yarder), converted eight straight extra-point attempts, booted a couple of punts that pinned Southfield deep, crushed a bunch of kickoffs into the end zone and even had a touchdown-saving tackle, as the Lakers rolled to a 62-37 win, earning a berth in the playoffs and a share of the Oakland Activities Association Red Division title.

After each kick, Bellamy walked onto the field and greeted O’Shea, whispering in his ear.

“It was tough at first, but I think I played better because my mind wasn’t on football,” Nick said. “I didn’t worry about the game at all that week and that’s because of Bell. I didn’t feel pressure to play. I wanted to play. A lot of people thought I shouldn’t play, to be honest. I knew my dad wanted me to play.”

As the game ended, the students sang:

O-SHEA!

O-SHEA! O-SHEA! O-SHEA!

Band of brothers

After a celebration, the Lakers took a knee on the field.

“Probably the most important thing we talk about and stress is brotherhood,” Bellamy said. “We don’t just say it. Our actions have to show it.”

The players went silent.

At the back, Nick O’Shea was on his knee, his shoulder pads off.

“It’s unfortunate, this week, that Nick O’Shea lost his father,” Bellamy said. “I can’t relate. But the love we have for him is infectious. Nick is a kid who would give anything for his team. The love and support you gave him this week is unreal. It’s unreal. Words can’t describe it.”

All week, kids took turns going over to O’Shea’s house, hanging out with him.

“I know Nick is a heck of a player,” Bellamy said. “For the kid to come out here with the adversity, after the tragic loss of his father, to play the way he did, I have never in my life seen anything like it. Never.”

That’s a powerful statement, considering Bellamy was a wide receiver at Michigan and played in the NFL.

“Where you at Nick?” Bellamy said. “Come here.”

Bellamy wrapped his arms around O’Shea.

“I told you guys,” Bellamy said. “He had an opportunity to stay at home and grieve with his family. But he thought it was appropriate to be with his other family. That’s us.”

Bellamy kept his arms wrapped around O’Shea.

“I love you guys and I’m proud of you guys for having his back and making him feel so strong as possible during these tough times for his family,” Bellamy said. “So kudos to you guys. I love you so much.”

Bellamy stood in front of the team and his coaching staff stood behind him.

Together, they did something powerful and profound last week. These coaches took this group of teenagers and guided them through unbelievable grief, kept them together, kept them focused, helping and comforting. This wasn’t about football. It was about something far more important.

“You got anything to say?” Bellamy asked, slapping O’Shea on the chest.

O’Shea shook his head.

Bellamy lifted a football in the air.

“Hey Nick,” Bellamy said. “We are going to sign this football. You got the game ball today, baby.”

He tossed the ball to O’Shea.

“Yeah!” the team screamed and clapped.

Nick O’Shea stood up and walked over to his mother, after the worst week of their lives.

There were hugs and smiles and blank stares, still stunned.

The players walked slowly across the field, heading toward the buses, changed in ways they don’t even understand yet. It’s going to last a lifetime.

Great parenting — and coaching

On Friday night, the Lakers will end their season at home. On senior night. The night when players and their parents walk onto the field together.

But that game will be special for another reason.

Before the season, Nick O’Shea announced a project to raise money to battle childhood cancer, asking people to donate for every point he scored. “I am making my season count by turning my athletic accomplishments into lifesaving research dollars!” he wrote on a webpage.

He was hoping to score 50 points, and he’s already at 59.

On Friday night, that fundraiser is going to go to a different level. O’Shea and two other students are holding a fundraiser for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a national childhood cancer foundation dedicated to raising funds for research into new treatments and cures for all children battling cancer.

“On Friday, we are going to bring in a kid who is part of Alex’s Lemonade Stand,” O’Shea said. “He’ll do the coin toss at the beginning of the game. He’s going to lead the team out of the tunnel. He’ll get a jersey. All of the players are getting shirts for free. We are selling shirts at school to raise money, whoever buys one gets in the game for free.”

Amazing, no?

This 17-year-old kid, still grieving the loss of his father, is trying to raise money to help others. If you ask me, it’s the result of great parenting.

And great coaching.

For more, visit the Detroit Free Press

Friends and fellow students held a vigil Sunday evening at Moon Valley (Phoenix) High School to honor their classmate, Carlos Sanchez, who died two days after collapsing on the football field Friday.

Sanchez, a junior and a starting linebacker who also played running back, collapsed during a game Friday night against Glendale’s Cactus High School and was rushed to John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital in critical condition.

The Glendale Union High School District issued a statement about his death Sunday evening: “Our school community is saddened by the news of Carlos’s passing. We extend our deepest condolences to Carlos’s family and friends during this difficult time.”

Moon Valley Principal Anat Salyer also sent a letter with the news to parents on Sunday.

Some of those friends stood and cried and expressed their shock at Sunday’s vigil.

Sandra Carter, a family friend who has known Sanchez since kindergarten, described him as “a smart kid with a bright future.”

Isaac Villalobos, a friend of Sanchez, said he broke down in tears when he first heard what happened on Friday. He described Sanchez as “a really cool guy. “

The school will have a team of social workers on campus Monday to support students and staff, according to the school district.

It’s unclear what led to Sanchez’s collapse during Friday’s game.

Moon Valley football coach Seth Millican said he is not able to talk about what happened on the field at the request of the Sanchez family. He said he will put out a statement Monday.

“I was on the field and I turned around and (saw) him standing and then the next thing you know he was laying on the ground not moving at all,” teammate Bobby Carlon said in a direct message. “They then carried him off the field and took him to the hospital.”

Millican is not sure yet if his team will practice on Monday.

Cactus coach Larry Fetkenhier also declined comment on Saturday.

Moon Valley’s booster group tweeted that it will be taking donations at next Friday’s game to help with Sanchez’s medical costs.

For more, visis AZCentral.com

The Phoenix Moon Valley Rockets returned to the football field on Friday, their first game since the death of junior Carlos Sanchez.

Although the Rockets lost to visiting Peoria 26-0, the Moon Valley community was shining bright as they remembered Sanchez.

A 16-year-old starting linebacker who also played running back, Sanchez died last weekend after collapsing on the field during a game last Friday against Glendale Cactus. The teams completed that game as Cactus defeated Moon Valley.

Hospital officials confirmed on Sunday evening that Carlos had passed away.

The school honored Sanchez, who wore No. 33, before the game with a 33-second moment of silence; Cactus also held a moment of silence before their game vs. Phoenix Greenway.

After the moment of silence, each Moon Valley football senior was recognized prior to the final home game of the regular season. Each senior placed a single white rose at the 33-yard line.

As Peoria lined up for its first play from offense, a player took a knee and a tackle was ceremoniously credited to Sanchez. Moon Valley quarterback Isaiah Southwick also wore special cleats in his teammate’s honor.

The Glendale Union School District restricted media access to a roped-off area beyond the west end zone and did not permit contact with any fans or players.

However, the district did make available Shawn Kaowili, president of the Moon Valley football booster club, who said he was moved by the support shown by the community.

“The community of support has been very generous, not just with us but from across the state,” Kaowili said. “Everybody has been very generous.”

Although media was neither allowed in the parking lot nor on the field before, during or after the game, the unity shown by the Moon Valley crowd — in the form of posters, banners, etc. — was evident.

According to Kaowili, the players had taken a vote on whether or not to play the game after the Arizona Interscholastic Association said they would not impose a fine should Moon Valley choose to forfeit.

However, the Rockets elected to play and honor the memory of their teammate.

“I think they were prepared,” Kaowili said. “(Head coach Seth Millican) said by allowing themselves to play tonight, they’ve already won. Whether you win or lose, taking control and saying they were going to go out there and play for Carlos, they’re already winners.”

Added Millican: “As a football coach, it’s easy to remember the football side. I remember the absolute best scout player who ever lived. Always a clean 100 percent. …

“Off the field, he always had a smile on his face. He was the kid walking down the sideline trying to keep people’s spirits up. When things went bad, he was a source of strength for this team.”

For more, visit AZCentral.com

Condolences are rolling into the Pleasure Ridge Park (Louisville) athletic department following the death of Amanda Williams, a “beloved teacher” and the wife of first-year Panthers football coach Tommy Williams.

A statement from PRP principal Kim Salyer described Amanda Williams as “a passionate teacher, coach and Pleasure Ridge Park alumni.”

The statement added the Jefferson County Public Schools Crisis Team was at the school Wednesday “to support our students and staff. Our goal is to assist our school family in understanding grief and to provide some helpful suggestions for coping.”

Amanda Williams died Wednesday while giving birth to twin girls.

Here is the complete letter from Salyer:

PRP defensive coordinator Blake Atzinger said Thursday morning that Tommy Williams still plans to coach when the Panthers — No. 20 in the state in Courier Journal’s Litkenhous Ratings — face No. 3 St. Xavier at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs.

“That’s subject to change depending on the twins’ health,” Atzinger said. “They’re the utmost priority right now. That situation will dictate a lot of what happens the next couple of days, but as of now coach Williams is still planning on coaching.”

Atzinger said the team was “shook up” Wednesday but still went through a brief practice in preparation for Friday’s game.

“They’re rallying together,” Atzinger said. “They’re a close-knit group, and they’re an experienced group with a lot of great leadership. … We’re just trying to persevere as a team and do the best we can with what we’re going through right now.”

For more, visit the Courier-Journal

ARVADA, Colo. — Play after play, Josh Cortez would get beat up in practice on the scout team.

Every time he stood up, he was smiling.

No matter how many times he was run over by a Poudre (Fort Collins, Colo.) varsity lineman, he got up laughing and smiling.

The jerseys of junior defensive lineman Josh Cortez are hung on the Poudre  bench in honor of him during a game at Pomona (Arvada) on Friday. (Photo: Timothy Hurst/The Coloradoan)

It was infectious. No matter how long a day or how hard a practice, the 17-year-old Cortez could bring a smile to his teammates and coaches.

A light that bright sears into the memory forever, even when it’s extinguished.

Cortez and his mom Kelly were killed in a car accident Thursday night, less than 24 hours before the junior was to take the field with his Poudre teammates in the Class 5A playoffs.

The team met Friday morning to discuss postponement, but there was really no discussion. Poudre was going to play.

“He loved being out here with us. It sucks that we can’t enjoy this with them. He’s a cheerful, happy guy. But he would have wanted us to play,” said Caden Oliver, who also attended Cache La Poudre Middle School with Cortez. “It would have really been a big loss if that happened and then we couldn’t come out and play for him.”

Scenes from a 5A playoff game between Pomona High School and Poudre High School played Friday at the North Area Athletic Complex in Arvada, Colo. (Photo: Timothy Hurst/The Coloradoan)

Friday was supposed to be a day of excitement and celebration for the best Poudre team in nearly a decade, the first Impalas squad to make the final 16 in 5A since 2008.

A team potluck Thursday night was a fun-filled evening with a pasta dinner had so many players and family members in attendance that there weren’t enough seats for everyone.

It was after leaving that dinner that Cortez and his mom were killed around 7:20 p.m.

“Today was supposed to be a big, happy day,” Poudre quarterback Troy McFadden said. “It ended up not being that way. We just came out here and decided it was for Josh. That’s it.”

The game was still played as scheduled, but with an emotional edge. Poudre’s captains took the field with Cortez’s No. 66 jersey and were presented with a Pomona No. 66 with “Cortez” across the back and his close friend Harlan Archuleta wore his number for the game.

On the field, No. 4 Pomona (9-2) showed off the strength of a team that has played in back-to-back 5A title games, winning 68-27. Pomona jumped to a 35-0 lead early in the second quarter.

But Poudre is a school of fighters. They’re tightly knit, a close group who looks after each other. It’s how they’ll deal with this tragedy and it’s how they play.

A wide receiver pass from Zach Leal to quarterback Troy McFadden put the Impalas on the board. McFadden then threw back-to-back touchdown passes to Leal, including a sensational one-handed grab. McFadden threw another late touchdown to Dylan McVicker.

The Impalas couldn’t fight all the way back to pull off the big upset, but that was never what mattered Friday night.

The Southern California soccer community is mourning the loss of a 17-year-old who died suddenly late Sunday night.

Ashley Roth was a junior on the Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.) girls soccer team and a member of the Legends girls soccer club in Chino Hills. On Sunday night, Roth was found unresponsive in her West Covina home, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

The cause of death has not been determined, Los Angeles County Coroner’s officials told the Tribune. An autopsy is pending.

Chino Hills girls soccer coach Andy Plascencia, who was Roth’s club soccer coach with Legends, told the Tribune that Roth played with Legends in a showcase over the weekend. Plascencia said everything appeared fine with Roth when the games were finished and everyone went home.

“She was smiling, having fun and played almost every single minute,” Plascencia told the Tribune. “It’s a complete shock.”

Bishop Amat principal Richard Beck wrote a letter of support to Roth’s family and to students.

The Bishop Amat girls soccer team canceled its matches scheduled for Tuesday.

Many expressed support for Roth and her family on social media after her passing.

The victim in Monday’s fatal crash on Highway 5 was a senior at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines.

Trevor Schwager, 18, of Clive, died after authorities said the pickup truck he was driving crossed the median near the Highway 65/69 interchange and collided with a straight truck.

Schwager was remembered for his positive spirit and leadership, the high school’s president, Dan Ryan, said in a message to parents. Schwager loved the outdoors, especially fishing and hunting, Ryan said.

At the time of the crash, Schwager was heading to a welding class at Des Moines Area Community College Southridge Center in Des Moines after a wrestling workout, Ryan said.

“Please keep Trevor, his family and friends, and the many people whose lives he touched in your thoughts and prayers. He will be greatly missed,” Dowling officials wrote on the school’s Facebook page Tuesday morning.

Dowling wrestling coach Kevin Stanley said Schwager was a three-year starter for the Maroons and described the 160-pounder as a popular and personable student who was always smiling.

“He was hands-down the life of the party,” Stanley said.

Stanley, who knew Schwager for about four years, said he was in disbelief of the news. Practice was canceled Monday out of respect for Schwager and his mourning teammates.

“The whole school was a wreck by the end of the day,” he said.

Schwager’s uncle, Mick Schwager, described his brother’s son as a free-spirited and polite teenager who loved working with animals on his Bellevue farm. He said his three sons looked up to Schwager, who Mick said loved to hunt, fish and work on his tractors.

“It was a very sad day for us,” Mick Schwager, 49, said. “You hear about these things happening, but you really don’t know how it feels until it actually happens to your family.”

One of Schwager’s friends, Luke Colosimo, said more than 200 people gathered Monday night at the family’s home in Clive to remember the teenager, filling the front yard and squeezing into the garage to talk with his parents.

Colosimo, 18, of Des Moines, said the group of mourners, many of whom cried, started with a prayer, singing “Amazing Grace” and passing around battery-powered candles.

On Tuesday, the high school held a prayer service at the beginning of the school day. Colosimo, who met Schwager in 7th grade but became close with him during their sophomore year, said he skipped because he thought he would become too emotional.

“I felt like if I went, I couldn’t stop crying,” he said.

For more, visit the Des Moines Register

Buckeye (Ariz.) Verrado High’s football community is in shock after junior wide receiver Dylan Miller was involved in a single-car accident after lifting weights at the school on late Wednesday afternoon.

Coach Tom Ward said that Miller was driving his car with two of his teammates coming out of the Verrado parking lot, hit a curb and the car flipped over, ending upside down.

Ward said that Miller, a 6-foot-5, 180-pounder who was expected to be one of the team’s core players next season, was taken to West Valley Hospital in Goodyear, where he underwent brain surgery Wednesday night.

Miller is in critical condition in ICU, Ward said.

“Dylan is a kind-hearted person,” said Jimmy Richardson, a Verrado wide receiver. “He can light up the room and make you smile, no matter the circumstances. He’s strong and a fighter.

“Most the team has been at the hospital in the past 24 hours. We’ve been there to comfort each other and his family and his friends. We’ve prayed separately and as a family, and these prayers will be answered soon.”

After a Friday morning pep assembly, Ward said the team is going to bring Miller’s No. 11 jersey to give to his parents. He said that jersey number will be retired from Verrado.

Miller caught nine passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns on this past season’s 8-3 team.

“The kids have rallied around him,” Ward said. “He’s a great kid, one of our better players. He’s one kid we were really counting on next year. He comes from a great family. When we ask kids to tow the line, he’s one of those kids.  He’ll do anything you ask of him.”

Jordan Bonny

LAKELAND, Fla. – A Polk County (Fla.) teen collapsed on a soccer field earlier this week and later died.

Jordan Bonny, a ninth-grader at Eagle Lake’s Lake Region High School, collapsed at Bryant Stadium on Tuesday.  Her friends learned of her passing the next day, according to The Ledger.

To honor Jordan, the school asked all cheerleaders and soccer players to wear black on Thursday.  Anyone else who would like to pay respects was asked to wear white.

The school also had guidance counselors on campus to talk to students.

At this point, we don’t know why Jordan collapsed.

The school district released a statement Thursday.

Words cannot adequately express how devastating this loss is for Lake Region High and the entire community.

We’ve lost a wonderful student who set a great example for her classmates.  She was a very quiet, hardworking student who always had a smile on her face and liked to laugh.

Jordan was an avid sports enthusiast and musician.  She was a proud member of LRHS’s orchestra and played the string bass.  She was a JV cheerleader, played junior varsity soccer and club ball.  Many soccer players throughout the district knew her from the soccer field.

We have grief counselors on site at the school to assist employees and students. We ask for everyone to keep Jordan’s loved ones in their thoughts and prayers.

– Superintendent Jacqueline M. Byrd

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to raise money for her funeral expenses.

A highly-sought football recruit has passed away.

Devin Winters, a defensive lineman from McDonogh 35 Senior High in New Orleans, had been pursued by both the staff of former Ragin’ Cajuns head coach Mark Hudspeth and the staff of new Cajuns head coach Billy Napier.

It’s known that Winters was a soft commit to Napier’s Cajuns in advance of the NCAA’s Feb. 7 National Signing Day, but that he also was thinking about changing his commitment to SEC-member Ole Miss.

“Very saddened by the unexpected (news),” Hudspeth said in a text message when contacted The Daily Advertiser on Saturday.

Hudspeth, now tight ends coach and associate head coach at Mississippi State, suggested his thoughts were with Winters’ “family and teammates.”

Like Hudspeth’s, Napier’s UL staff was recruiting Winters hard.

According to the recruiting website 247Sports.com, Winters — who received more than a dozen scholarships offers including UL’s along with ones from multiple Power 5 conference programs — was scheduled to visit Syracuse this weekend and Ole Miss, which had been recruiting him aggressively, next weekend.

Circumstances of Winters’ passing have not yet been made public.

But the Twitter account of McDonogh’s football team, nicknamed the Roneagles, posted this message Friday afternoon:

Twitter followers of the 6-foot-4, 245-pounder included Hudspeth, Napier and former Cajuns defensive ends coach Marquasse Lovings.

A scan of Winters’ Twitter timeline tells the story of a recruit in demand.

Just last Monday, he received a home visit from an Ole Miss recruiter.

On Jan. 16, he got a fresh offer from Western Kentucky.

On Dec. 10, another Ole Miss home visit was made.

And on Dec. 6, three days after Hudspeth was fired and while still working for UL at the time, Lovings — who recruited the New Orleans area for Hudspeth’s Cajuns staff — paid a home visit to Winters.

A picture of Winters and Lovings shows the two both make a “UL” hand gesture, with fingers and thumb formed to mimic the letters “U” and “L.”

Back on Aug. 2, Winters tweeted out pictures of offer letters he had received to the points, UL’s among them along with ones from Ole Miss, Tulane and Houston.

The one from UL — which initially offered Winters Feb. 10, shortly after National Signing Day in 2017 had come and gone — was accompanied by the hashtags “#Blessed” and “#GoCajuns.”

Winters also tweeted about having received early offers as well from Kent State, Oregon State, Tulsa, South Alabama, Texas-San Antonio, Alabama-Birmingham, SMU and Cincinnati.

McDonogh teammates reacted Friday on Twitter to Winters’ death, including these two:

Hayden Nierman isn’t alone. He has his teammates to pick him up. His mom doesn’t miss a game.

And around his neck, when he takes the mound for Scottsdale Desert Mountain High’s baseball team, the senior pitcher finds strength through the ashes of his father he wears in a silver amulet on a chain around his neck.

“I feel like he’s over me watching me and he’s still with me,” he said. “My family got it ordered, especially made for me.”

Derek Nierman, Hayden’s dad, died at age 49 on Jan. 2. The cause of death still is pending, said Debbie Nierman, Hayden’s mom. She said it is uncertain if it was from an accidental prescription medication overdose or a health issue they weren’t aware of.

It’s been a shock. Still is to Hayden, who has committed to playing at Gateway Community College.

Even though his parents divorced when Hayden was 1, they maintained a good relationship that included coaching their son’s Desert Hills Little League teams together.

“I thought that was cool,” Hayden said.

Debbie said Hayden’s father loved watching Hayden play.

Derek could be hard on Hayden but he also brought out the best in him. Hayden wanted that, because, in the end, his father’s greatest advice was this:

“Don’t be scared against anyone,” Hayden said.

This season has been as much a catharsis for the Desert Mountain baseball team as it has been for Nierman.

When players and coaches first found out about the death, it hit everybody hard.

During the Christmas break, teammates got Hayden out of the house, kept him moving.

Hayden’s father wanted to do something special for Hayden’s senior season and buy new jerseys for the Desert Mountain players.

That didn’t happen, so the Nierman family did that in Derek’s memory. The team added the initials DN sewn onto the left sleeve of each jersey in support of Hayden.

“They surprised us,” Debbie said. “When the jerseys arrived and presented them to the team, the coach shared with the team that the maroon jerseys are in memory of Hayden’s father.

“That shows you how supportive this team has been for him. Without the baseball team, it would have been more difficult.”

Hayden Nierman wears that maroon jersey proudly. More important is part of his father that he carries with him onto the field.

“He won’t play without the amulet,” Debbie said.

Hayden has always been the life of the team, joking, always ready race out of the dugout to chase foul balls on the days he is not pitching.

He always has something to say.

That voice, that big personality, was missing after his father died.

Slowly, it’s coming back this season.

“It was shocking,” first-year coach Erik Kehoe said. “For anybody to go through that, let alone a 17- or 18-year-old kid, who is about to start his senior year, it affected all of us. It affected him the most. But it took us about two weeks before we got back to being ourselves, laughing, joking around at practice.

“Hayden is a great kid, great personality, loose. He was a shell of himself for about three weeks, probably longer. It affected him on the mound, too. But he’s been on the mend.”

Nierman appreciates what the team has done for him to lift his spirits.

“I’m mostly in a good mood, so that was rough,” he said. “This is the most supportive team I’ve been a part of. I’m fortunate to be a part of it.”

Desert Mountain senior catcher Jack Silverman calls Nierman “a grinder.” He said he knew Nierman’s dad.

“It was a hard time,” Silverman said. “Hayden is the funniest kid you’ll ever meet. He’s always a happy kid.”

For more, visit AZCentral.com

Chandler’s dynasty program will persevere through the rest of this season that will now be called field and track.

The high school track giant lost a huge part on Wednesday when Ted Williams, the throwers coach for 21 years, died from cardiac arrest associated with health issues. Williams, who has been helping coach with Eric Richardson for the last 30 years total (the last 21 at Chandler), was 59 years old

“We’re dedicating it to field and track,” Richardson said of the remainder of the season. “He always said we had it backwards. So we’re flipping it.”

Williams was a huge part of the Chandler boys and girls field events for two decades. In 2012, Chandler’s girls throwers went 1, 2 and 3 at state in the shot put as it was wrapping up another team state championship.

Chandler has won 11 girls state championships since the 2006 season.

“It’s a big loss for our program,” Richardson, the head girls track coach, said.

Stephen Carson, the former Chandler boys head track coach, called Williams “the greatest assistant coach of all-time.”

Williams developed valley fever more than three years ago and battled more lung issues with Sarcoidosis, according to Richardson.

“He was helping us this year on a limited basis,” Richardson said. “He would come out when he could.”

Williams missed last week’s 78th annual Nike Chandler Rotary Invitational, because of fluid buildup in his lungs.

It worsened Sunday and he was hospitalized, Richardson said.

Chandler football coach Shaun Aguano said that Williams was part of the football program the last 17 years.

Chandler Principal Larry Rother called Williams a “beloved coach.”

“He touched the lives of all of the students he’d worked with over the years and his positive impact on our school will certainly carry on long after his passing,” Rother said.

Williams worked with Hannah Carson in the shot and discus, before she went onto a successful career at Texas Tech. She was ranked in the top five all-time in Arizona high school history in 2011 in the shot put and discus.

Williams worked with the Arizona Cheetahs club athletes during their elementary school days.

Stephen Carson, Hannah’s father, recalled how Williams kicked Hannah out of the weight room when she was 12 because she was lifting wrong and not taking it seriously.

“That incident would form one of the greatest coach/athlete duos in the history of Arizona sports,” Stephen Carson wrote. “Ted had a way of communicating with Hannah that kept her yoked and confident not only in competition but also in life. Ted was a father figure to Hannah as he was with most.”

For more, visit AZCentral.com

A former high school football player in Florida who was on the cusp of graduation died late Sunday, according to the team’s official Twitter account.

Grover Wills was a defensive back at Durant High School in Plant City.

“With heavy Hearts, Last night, we lost not only a teammate but a brother,” the school’s football account tweeted. “Rest In Peace Grover Wills! Please keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers. #5 #Cougars..Forever”

Several of Wills’ teammates and classmates tweeted condolences. A candlelight vigil has been scheduled for Wednesday on the school’s football field, according to Durant’s Student Government Association.

The cause of Wills’ death is unknown as of Monday morning.

Tragedy has formed around a horrific auto accident, which involved former West Florida (Pensacola) football player Kyle Harrison.

Former West Florida High football and baseball player Kyle Harrison, 21, died Monday after being struck by a car Wednesday, which caused head trauma and resulted in a 10-hour brain surgery on Saturday.

Harrison was headed home from church on Wednesday when three cars, including Harrison’s, were involved in a crash the evening in the northbound lane of U.S. 90 near Eight Mile Creek Road.

Harrison exited his vehicle to check on the status of the other party in the collision. A pedestrian, Dannah McCormick, 34, of Pensacola, stopped to also provide aid.

Shortly after, Harrison and McCormick were struck by another vehicle that was heading the opposite direction down the road.

Harrison and McCormick were both taken to Sacred Heart Hospital following the crash.

McCormick, a nurse at Sacred Heart, died due to her injuries.

Harrison was part of West Florida’s graduating class of 2015, and played football and baseball.He was key member of West Florida’s offensive line and helped start West Florida’s current streak of four district championships.

“He was a guy that was always positive and encouraged everybody,” said Lees, who coached at West Florida from 2010 to 2017 and is currently Milton’s head coach. “It’s one thing to talk about living a certain way and it’s one thing to do it. Kyle exemplified a high-quality life and his teammates knew it and looked up to him.

“Even his former teammates that didn’t hang out with him too much during high school contacted me after the accident. They were all crushed because everybody respected Kyle.”

Lees remembers Harrison as a high school senior, who he described as a 300-pound athlete that was a force on the football field but enjoyed baseball more.

Lees said Harrison ” was doing really well in life.” Harrison had shed 70 pounds since high school and planned to run a Spartan Race in Jacksonville this summer.

Though Summerford was the defensive coordinator at West Florida during Harrison’s days there, the two were very close and Summerford said it was his honor to be on the same field as Harrison.

One of Summerford’s fondest memories of Harrison was during halftime of West Florida’s first-round playoff game against Tallahassee Godby during Harrison’s junior year.

It was the first time in program history that West Florida beat Godby and Harrison delivered an emotional speech at halftime to fire up the team.

“We haven’t had a better guy come through our program,” Summerford said. “He was a strong, Christian athlete and he portrayed that every day. It rubbed off on his teammates and he was infectious as a leader. He wasn’t just a vocal leader.

“The examples he set were things that our players wanted to follow. I am so proud to have been associated with Kyle Harrison. That’s what makes this so tough.”

For more, visit the Pensacola News-Journal

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If you have active children, we’re putting you on alert tonight after an 8-year-old fatally collapsed on a soccer field in West Virginia.

Caleb, the 8-year-old who died, told his dad seconds before passing, “‘Daddy I can’t see.'”

“He fell and started convulsing, and we yelled for an ambulance,” said Caleb’s father Ryan Ray.

CPR did not save the child’s life and there was no defibrillator on the field. The only heart-related issues we know of, as of now, is that Caleb had a heart murmur and asthma.

But missing before dying on the field, his mom Kristy said, he was just acting like a normal kid.

“I have video of him practicing as goalie,” she said. “Ten minutes before his heart stopped, he was jumping up and down.”

This is alarming for anyone, especially parents. Olympic High School basketball player Aaron Barker died shortly after returning home from practice in January 2017.

David Ohmstede is a pediatric cardiologist at Novant Health. He told us, he is likely to hear the phones ringing off the hook later in the week with parents trying to schedule their child an appointment.

NBC Charlotte went ahead and asked Dr. Ohmstede what symptoms we can be on alert for in our children.

“Symptoms would be fainting, heart racing, or if they are feeling like they are tiring out more easily than they used to,” Dr. Ohmstede said.

If you notice any changes, see a doctor immediately.

Since children and teens are often involved in athletic activities during school, we reached out to CMS about their policy if this were to happen to a child on one of their fields. They got back to us saying there is an AED (automated external defibrillator) on every school campus.

FRANKLIN, N.J. — A 14-year-old Franklin High School student has died after becoming unresponsive during a physical education class.

The male student was a ninth-grader at the school, school officials confirmed. About 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, school officials learned the student had died.

Around 9:10 a.m. Tuesday, the student was in a physical education class on the field at the school, in Somerset, when he became unresponsive, school officials said.

High school physical education staff immediately began CPR and called 911. Franklin Township police arrived and transported the student by ambulance to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick where he later died.

“We are providing counseling to our staff and students. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the student’s family at this time,” school officials said in a statement.

For more, visit MyCentralJersey.com