N.Y. football player dies after head injury

CARTHAGE, N.Y. » A high school football player has died after sustaining a head injury during a weekend game, the 14-year-old’s father said on social media.

“We all prayed for a miracle to happen for you to be saved. Sadly, the damage was just too much,” Jason Christman wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday.

Tyler Christman, a freshman at Carthage High School in northern New York, was injured during a junior varsity game against West Genesee High School on Saturday.

In a display of support Monday, students and families, many wearing the school’s color red gathered at a local park for a rally illuminated by lights from first responders’ vehicles, WWNY in Watertown reported.

“You will always be our hero and soon you will be a hero to the people that receive your life saving organ donations,” Jason

Christman wrote, “and a hero to all the family members who have spent many sleepless nights praying for their miracle.”

Tyler Christman was at least the second high school football player to die of a head injury in recent months.

Dale Martin, 18, sustained a fatal brain injury during an April 1 game in Colville, Washington.

At least two other players have died after falling ill while practicing. Ivan Hicks, 16, collapsed on the field during warmups at West Catholic Preparatory High School in Philadelphia in July, local media reported. In August, 17-yearold Jack Alkhatib died at a hospital shortly after collapsing during practice at Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, South Carolina.

The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina tracked a total of 14 middle and high school football deaths in 2019.