Pratt football player's absence felt by community
9:21 p.m. Wednesday, September 17, 2008
At the high school football field in Pratt, they know the next time they take the field,they'll have to do it with a teammate not on the bench...not in the stadium...not even in the state.
After last Friday's game, Pratt football players and coaches are waiting for 16-year-old Luke Southard to wake up.
"It was a good hit, but we weren't prepared for what we saw after that," Pratt head football coach Jeff Fuss said.
"The coaches literally had to go back and look at game film to figure out what happened," Pratt athletic director Curtis Nightingale said.
What happened was this junior linebacker, number 25, took on a block from the Scott City fullback, not a terribly violent hit, not an illegal hit, not a dirty hit.
Southard went down anyway, and he's now in a Denver hospital with a closed head injury.
"It's disturbing for us. You just don't think anyone's ever going to get hurt that bad," Fuss said.
Pratt did cancel Monday's junior varsity football game, but the Southards told the school district they don't want anymore cancellations, so the Greenbacks are planning on taking their home field this Friday.
"He's a brother to them and he's a son to us as coaches, and they have a brother that's down and we have a son that's down, and we won't sleep until we know he's okay," Fuss said.
Coaches say the straight-A student answers everything with a "Yes, sir"...and he plays without fear.
An impromptu prayer vigil for Southard Sunday night brought more than 300 people, and even football players from other teams and other towns.
"He's a great kid and we'll keep praying for him. Hopefully, he'll recover," Fuss said.
"It's just kind of a...again, a lightning strike kind of a deal. Unfortunately, Luke's on the bad end of it right now, and he's fighting for his life," Nightingale said.
Now, people in Pratt are hoping by the time the football team takes the field this Friday, they'll have good news about their teammate hurt last week.
Pratt High School has decided not to release game film of the play that hurt Southard.
The team plans to wear stickers with Southard's number on their helmets in this Friday's game.
Photos courtesy Gale Rose\The Pratt Tribune
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