Rural Kansas High School Football Player Dies After Collapsing On Sideline

Luke Schemm, a football player at Wallace County High in tiny Sharon Springs, Kan., died Wednesday, after collapsing during Tuesday night’s playoff game. Schemm was airlifted to a Denver hospital but was declared brain dead, and eventually taken off life support today. He collapsed on the sideline after scoring a two-point conversion:

David Schemm said he didn’t know how Luke got hurt, but said Luke was tackled as he reached the endzone for a two-point conversion following a long touchdown run in the third quarter of Tuesday night’s game. After the play, he said Luke went to the sideline where he collapsed.

According to the Kansas State High School Activities Association executive director, none of the referees saw Schemm suffer “head or neck contact” during the game. David Schemm said that his son suffered brain trauma, causing it to swell. By the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research’s statistics, Schemm is the 10th high school football player to die this year.

Schemm was a fantastic athlete, starting all four years for Wallace County and leading them to the state eight-man football finals in 2013. He was also on last year’s state champion basketball team, and was a top-three state high jumper.

He was 17.

Screenshot via KWCH; h/t Abe & Brian

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