A Michigan high school athlete’s spine was fractured during a junior varsity football game when a boy twice his size leaped up and flattened him, according to shocking video.
The teen boys were on opposing teams during a Thursday evening jv game between Lakeshore and Kalamazoo Central High Schools and had just finished a play when the larger one seemingly crossed a line, according to the clip and the injured teen’s mom.
Footage taken by fans in the stands shows a Lakeshore player tackling the 15-year-old Kalamazoo Central player named Colton as the two teams tussle.
Then, while Colton is still on the ground, the hulking Lakeshore teen climbs off him, stands up and launches his full body weight back on the curled-up teen — pancaking him, the video shows.
Following the body slam, Colton was carted off the field and taken to the hospital.
The 15-year-old was treated for two fractures in his spine and placed on muscle relaxers once he was released, his mother, Courtney Mims, told WSBT.
At first, Mims, who was at the game, didn’t realize that the prone figure on the turf was her son, but quickly leaped into action once she did.
“As soon as it clicked that it was, I couldn’t be stopped. I had to go down there. I’ve never felt anything like it. I’ve never been as upset or shaken up as I was over something for my son,” she told the local outlet.
“These boys are high school boys. They’re 15 years old. The game means a lot to them. It’s their whole life right now. They’re there from before I get up to go to work in the morning till after dinner, putting in the work and for somebody to try to take that from somebody doing so much is awful for me to see.”
Mims said her son won’t return for the rest of the season and doctors are still trying to evaluate if he could ever play again.
The respective schools and Michigan High School Athletic Association are working on “resolving this issue internally,” according to a statement obtained by the outlet.
It’s unclear if the player on the rival team will face any punishments for his alleged misconduct.
In a matchup between the two schools’ varsity football teams the following day, Kalamazoo came out on top 26-7. A Facebook post celebrating the breezy victory wrote that the win “was for Colton.”
During the 2024 football season, a staggering number of high school players were gravely injured or even killed during basic drills, in part due to incompetent equipment.
One teenager in Alabama was airlifted and later died at the hospital after suffering a head injury during the season’s opener.
In September, another 16-year-old boy in Los Angeles sustained a brain injury while tackling an opponent and died a week later.
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