With only 2:20 left to play in the 4th quarter on Sept. 14, there was a game-ending injury. On what would be the last play of the game, Webster Groves went for a run. A pile up ensued; the results were tragic.

A Webster Groves player was left down on his back on the turf. He stayed down there for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, Pattonville’s new trainer Mr. Alex Hubbs applied an air cast to his legs, an ambulance was called, and he was surrounded by personnel.

“I felt bad for the kid,” Hubbs said. “I’ve seen a decent amount of injuries like that and worse.”

He attributed his calm demeanor to the fact that athletic trainers have to stay calm.

“If you’re not calm, the kid will sense that.”

One of his assistants, senior Marisa Ruggiero, was working with him at the game.

“I felt bad because Webster Groves had already lost so many people, but I enjoyed the experience of seeing how Alex reacted,” Ruggiero said. “All of these people who didn’t know each other were working together to help him.”

The game was called at 1:57 with Pattonville winning 51-7.

But none of the players left the turf after shaking hands at midfield.

Instead, the Pirates all kneeled in solidarity about 10 yards away from the injured Statesmen player.

It was almost completely silent in the stadium.

The cheerleaders didn’t chant. The band didn’t play the fight song. The players didn’t celebrate the win.

It’s been a rough start for the Webster Grove Statesmen. In their first game this season, they lost four starters to multiple ligament tears, primarily ACL. Pattonville football players Isaiah Wilkes and Sam Sanderson expressed the impacts of injuries on them.

“I felt sad based on how bad the injury looked and that his whole high school career could be ended by one play,” Wilkes said.

He just got out of wearing a boot after spraining his ankle which required him to be taken off the field at the Parkway North game.

“When I went down, I didn’t think it was super bad,” Wilkes said. “It was worse than I thought, but I didn’t need to get carted off the field.”

Sanderson, who gets his fair share of injuries each game, said he worries about getting hurt.

“I hope my career never comes to [a career-ending injury],” he said. “You never know what could happen. You could be playing football one minute and unable to walk the next.”

Fans hates to see a game end in the way it did on Sept. 21 and hope for no injuries to either team this Friday as Pattonville plays at home against Kirkwood and Webster Groves travels to play at Ritenour.