California High School Football Player Dies after Collapsing on Field

On an evening where high school football, by and large, returned to the state of California, tragedy struck the football community.

Last Friday, according to a report from the Sacramento Bee, a Kennedy (CA) High School senior lineman collapsed on the sideline during the fourth quarter of the team’s season opener and later died.

The game stopped in the fourth quarter followed Emmanuel Antwi’s collapse and did not resume as responding medical crews did 10 minutes of CPR before taking Antwi to a local hospital, the Bee reported.

“Today we learned that Emmanuel Antwi, a John F. Kennedy senior student-athlete, died after a medical emergency during Friday night’s football game. We do not have many details to share beyond this,” the Sacramento City Unified School District said in an issued press release. “Our hearts go out to Emmanuel’s family and our school community during this difficult time. We all ask to give them privacy and time for healing and comfort as they grieve.”

For the Golden State, the high school football season returned to many parts of the state on March 12 after long postponements and pauses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A GoFundMe page was set up to help with Antwi’s funeral costs. The page also had a note from the organizer.

“After waiting months due to COVID-19, the first football game of the season was finally here! He just told his football coach that he finally got his driver’s license. He was so excited. Emmanuel “Manny” was loved by so many and he was a great young man and he definitely was too young to pass away,” the note on GoFundMe said.

According to a National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) annual study, there have been 34 football-related deaths over the course of the last 10 years among middle and high school-age student-athletes. During the 2020 fall season, where 35 states participated to some degree, none were reported.

To read the full report of the California high school football player passing away from the Sacramento Bee, click here.