Early reports from doctors at Sanford Hospital were positive on Saturday morning after a scary moment during Friday night’s Daytona Beach Seabreeze-Deltona Pine Ridge football game in Deltona.
Senior Pine Ridge player Kaden Boddie was injured after making a tackle and lie motionless on the field, losing consciousness for several minutes after the collision. Trainers and medical personnel at the scene were quick to come to Boddie’s aid and air support was immediately requested to the field at Pine Ridge High.
The stadium was evacuated so that safe clearance could be made for the helicopter’s landing and Boddie was airlifted to the Sanford facility.
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First-year Pine Ridge coach Alex Russell said the situation made for some very tense moments.
“Absolutely. You always hold your breath when an injury occurs. But [the seriousness of] this one was obvious pretty early on,” Russell said. “Our athletic trainer [Jordan Kennan] and her staff did a fantastic job responding and following the emergency action plan.”
Russell said when he left the hospital late Friday it seemed Boddie was in the clear, although the hospital was keeping him overnight and he would be undergoing further testing.
“I don’t have any updates this morning. However I left the hospital around midnight. At that time Kaden’s initial round of testing all came back negative,” Russell said. “He is able to move all extremities and was responsive. The medical team is planning on conducting more tests this morning.”
The incident occurred about two minutes before halftime. Boddie went in for a low tackle on Seabreeze running back Jeremias George and “jammed up his neck,” Seabreeze coach Mike Klein told the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
“From what we had seen, it looked like one of those hits with the crown of the head,” Klein said. “They immediately got the medic team out there and the trainers out there, and you could kind of tell right away that it looked like it might be kind of serious.”
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Seabreeze was leading 28-7 when the injury happened and Russell said the game will not likely be resumed, rendering the outcome final at the time of the stoppage.
Boddie, a 5-foot-8, 140-pound two-way player is a speedy, defensive back/receiver. He leads the Orlando area in kick return yardage with 439 yards and he has scored one touchdown off a fumble recovery.
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.
