The raw emotion of Friday night football is ingrained in the souls of people across the coal region of Pennsylvania.. They call this Friday night lights.. there is a cold chill as the season ages.. boilo is abundant.. People are jammed in bleachers in football stadiums across various high schools.
Those Friday night lights turned tragic on October 25, 2019 at North Schuylkill..
This is how the REPUBLICAN HERALD captured the moment in late Friday runs:
The packed stadium went silent though during a scary moment during the 3rd quarter with 6:10 left on the clock, the team’s quarterback, Jaden Leiby, #6, went down during a tackle and never got back up.
The game stopped..
The players kneeled.. The fans went silent.. One person who attended told me that you could almost hear a pin drop as he was taken off the field by medical personnel and then into an ambulance surrounded by his team nervous team members..
As the game continued, the haunting noise of the life flight helicopter was heard above Ashland as it landed in Memorial Field.. Leiby was rushed to a local hospital..
The North Schuylkill School District issued the following statement “ Jaden was seriously injured during last night’s football game. At this time we are respecting the privacy of Jaden and his family. Please keep Jaden in your thoughts and prayers. ”.
Rumors were rampant on social media in the immediate aftermath of his injury..People were posting images of his jersey.. images of number.. and quite honestly awful prognostications about his potential injuries…
Early in the day, the Coal Speaker Facebook page posted this:
Friday night lights became a frightening Friday night life flight as a victory by North Schuylkill turned into a somber moment for a player..
Rumors rampant.. nothing is confirmed.. may be truth be better than what is being quickly shared on Facebook.
..may the medical staff be guided in wisdom by a higher power that hopefully exists beyond us ..
.. the prayers of an entire county (and as news transmits through social media, a much larger area) are with him.
Local news, and local sites, had a major issue on their hands.. HOW DO YOU REPORT ON THIS?
After all, we are talking about a minor.. we are talking about private medical information.. but yet we are also talking a local hero who was is well known on social media and known by thousands across the coal region for being a quarter back for the successful North Schuylkill football team..
How do you post anything on this situation?
With caution…
SKOOK NEWS used an abundant amount of that..
So did the Coal Region Canary..
The caution from local news sources did not stop social media from reacting..
A #Prayerfor6 hashtag developed and was widely spread.. as was a rumor that Jaden Leiby would not be able to walk again.
This is how WNEP summarized the event:
“It was our senior night, it was also a Pink Out night here,” Gross said.
But he says the energy in the stadium changed during the third quarter. With just over six minutes remaining, Jaden Leiby went down.
One fan who saw the devastating play says at the time of his injury Jaden Leiby was doing what he did best, making a fantastic play, and in this case, a fantastic tackle.
“The other boy was moving at full speed. When he hit him, he did a full somersault, the Pottsville player,” Tom Hepler of Butler Township said.
Leiby was taken off the field on a stretcher, acknowledging fans with a wave of his arm on the way out. He was taken to this field in Ashland and airlifted to Lehigh Valley Hospital
“Our coaching staff has been down there I spoke with our head coach this morning he left early this morning some of our assistants have been down there and I’m sure some of our players, but I don’t know for sure,” Gross said.
Now the community is coming together on social media in support of Jaden. Many teams, divisions, players and fans are posting on Facebook and tweeting with the hashtag prayers for Jaden. Many even changing their profile pictures to this hashtagged shot of #6 running.
I spoke to several people who run businesses in Ashland today.. and they all report a more subdued crowd.. a sadder atmosphere. The local area has been stunned by the news of this incident.
Meanwhile… NS won the Schuylkill League Division 1 trophy …
That victory seemed subdued. The immediate story Jaden..
These were the images across social media all throughout Saturday:
X X X
High school football stories are rampant with mentions about injuries all over America..
Headlines like these, only from the last 2 months:
Oklahoma high school football player dies after head injury …
Georgia high school football player injured in game dies – WCTV
2 high school football players die in separate on-field …
And the latest comes from our area.. the news of this North Schuylkill injury has yet to made national news.. But will..
X X X
North Schuylkill captured the Schuylkill League Division I football crown with a dominating 29-7 victory over Pottsville at a packed Ghosh Orthodontics Field at Spartan Stadium. New turf present…
Jaden Leiby scored three first-half touchdowns and rushed for 134 yards for North Schuylkill.
And then came the injury..
The social media attention..
And the very medical emergency..
To repeat words from earlier today:
