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Town mourns loss of football player as team decides whether to play on

Photo courtesy Park View Facebook page.
Photo courtesy Park View Facebook page.

Students at Park View High School in South Hill, Va., planned to celebrate homecoming this week. Instead, flags outside the school are flying at half mast and grief counselors are at the school. The reason for their pain is all too common this year: A young man stepped onto the field to play the game he loved, and never made it home again.

Junior lineman Jamond Salley was reportedly injured in a head-to-head collision on a kick return late in the first half of Park View's game against Brunswick County High School. He ran off the field on his own at halftime.

During halftime, Salley complained of a headache. Then he collapsed, unconscious, and started having seizures. The 16-year-old was rushed to VCU Community Memorial Hospital, but there was nothing doctors could do. Salley was pronounced dead shortly after arriving.

A school spokeswoman told Yahoo Sports that a cause of death had not been determined as of Tuesday afternoon, though an autopsy has been completed.

On Monday, one of Salley's former classmates told told WRIC. “It’s hitting everyone so hard because it was so sudden and it was such a terrible accident, and it was really unexpected.” Unexpected, but unfortunately not the first time it has happened in the Richmond, Va., area.

Almost exactly a year ago, Jacob Vick, a sophomore player at New Kent (Va.) High School, collapsed during a football practice. He died shortly after, at the same hospital where Salley died on Friday. He had suffered a concussion earlier that month, and had not played in the team's game the week before despite being cleared to play. Vick was the third Richmond-area teen to die after collapsing during football practice since 2000.

Salley is the eighth high school player to die this year, with more than a month to go before state champions are crowned across the country. According to the University of North Carolina's National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, the number of high school player deaths directly related to football has ranged from zero to 11 since 1977. Last year, eight players died of injuries directly related to football, while an additional eight died of causes indirectly related to football.

States have set new injury protocols, especially related to concussions, heat illness and heat stroke, in recent years. This is a step in the right direction, said Dr. Jane Chung, a sports medicine physician at NYU Langone Concussion Center. Coaches and players must be educated on the signs, symptoms and seriousness of concussions as well as other injuries that are common in contact sports like football.

"The bottom line is if an athlete or anybody has any type of injury, that should never be taken too lightly," said Chung.

The Park View football coaches canceled practice on Monday. An assistant coach confirmed to Yahoo Sports that the team will practice on Tuesday, then sit down and decide together if they should play the game scheduled for Friday night at 7p.m. The game would start just as Salley's wake is ending.

Whether or not they decide to play, they know that on Saturday, they will lay their teammate to rest.

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Danielle Elliot is the editor of Prep Rally for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at delliot@yahoo-inc.com or follow her on Twitter!

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