Blunt force trauma to the head led to the death of a 16-year-old high school football player in Arizona earlier this month, authorities said.
Carlos Sanchez, a starting junior linebacker and running back for Moon Valley High School in Phoenix, died after collapsing during a game against Cactus High School on Oct. 20. Sanchez’s immediate cause of death was “blunt force trauma” and the manner of death was accidental, but a full report from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office may take months to complete, AZCentral.com reports.
Sanchez fell to the ground after his head was driven into the field while trying to complete a block during the game, according to a report by the Arizona Interscholastic Association. He was rushed to a hospital in critical condition and died two days later.
Officials from the state athletic organization told ABC 15 that the play was clean and that proper safety protocols were taken prior to the game, including checks to Sanchez’s helmet.
Moon Valley football coach Seth Millican told the station that Sanchez was the “very best of us,” but declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding his last play.
“I hope his family can find some peace in knowing that Carlos Sanchez will live as the symbol of all that is pure, all that is good, and all that is selfless in the human spirit,” he told ABC 15.
No one from Sanchez’s school or the district has discussed the play that injured Sanchez, according to AZCentral.
“Our focus continues to be to support the Sanchez family,” Glendale Union High School District spokeswoman Kim Mesquita said. “Again, we extend our deepest condolences.”
A total of 11 high school football players have died since the beginning of 2017, according to research cited by AZCentral.com from the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina. Four of those deaths were cardiac-related when the athlete was active and two were caused by traumatic brain injury, researchers found.
“If you get a whack on the head, the brain can shift a little bit and that can cause a blood vessel to break and then you can have blood develop between the brain and the skull, and that can force the brain down and even kill you,” Dr. Donald Bucklin of US HeathWorks told ABC 15.
A fundraiser established in Sanchez’s memory has eclipsed $34,000 as of Tuesday.
“Carlos, as described by his teammates, was a very good young man, very caring, very responsible and had so much respect from peers and others who may have meet him,” the website reads. “All of the above came from being part of a loving family. … We know that this will not lessen their pain, however it will assist the family of any immediate financial burden.”
Moon Valley and Cactus high schools are scheduled to meet again on Friday in the first round of the state’s 4A playoffs.