SUTTON — The father of the junior varsity football player who died during a game on Monday said his son was in “great physical shape’ and had no known ailments.
“He’s my hero; he’s my all-star,’ John Ellsessar said yesterday.
John Ellsessar and the Sutton High community are mourning Michael Ellsessar, 16, a sophomore who died while playing in a game at Quaboag Regional High School in Warren.
Michael was a member of the Oxford High junior varsity team that includes students from Sutton, which does not have football.
Ellsessar said he hopes that an autopsy will answer some of the many questions he and his family have about Michael’s death.
He had just gone out for a pass on the second play of the game when his chest was struck in a collision with an opposing player, said Ellsessar, who was not at the game.
Michael remained on the ground after the play, and an EMT on duty at the game rushed to the boy, Ellsessar said.
The referee, Joseph Hilton, a state trooper with medical training, was the first to administer aid, according to the district attorney’s office.
Michael was taken by ambulance to Mary Lane Hospital in Ware about 4 p.m. He was later pronounced dead.
“He was a great student; he was a fabulous teammate,’ Sutton’s athletic director, Daniel Delongchamp, said yesterday. “He was a prototypical American boy.’
School officials were at the high school until late Monday and activated the school district’s emergency response team.
Counselors were in the middle and high school yesterday to help students cope with the loss. Counselors also set up special areas in the schools for students having an especially difficult time.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to the family,’ Superintendent Theodore Friend said yesterday.
Michael was a well-liked teen who was a good student and a talented athlete, Friend said.
“People talked about this young man with such reverence,’ Friend said. “He came from a great family. His older brother is in college, and his younger brother is here in our middle school.’
Late Monday, friends of Michael began posting “rest in peace’ messages on Facebook. A special page, Mike Ellsessar RIP, was also set up on the social networking site.
Besides football, Michael was on the track and hockey teams. He occasionally competed on the varsity football team.
In track, the javelin was his specialty. He finished sixth in the Central Massachusetts Championships at Fitchburg High School last May with a throw of 156 feet, 9 inches. He was the only freshman to place in the top 35 in that event.
Jeff Parcells, the Oxford High varsity football coach, described the death as a “freak accident.’
Parcells said the teen was in “top physical shape’ and “was a big strong kid’ who had started two weeks ago as a wide receiver on the varsity team in a game against Millbury and scored a touchdown.
Parcells, who was not at Monday’s game, said he spent part of yesterday visiting the homes of students. “This is just a tragedy for the Sutton-Oxford family,’ he said. “He was an all-American kid with a hard work ethic.’
State police assigned to the district attorney’s office are investigating.
Calling hours will be held Friday at the Mulhane Home for Funerals, 45 Main St., Millbury, from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 6 to 9 p.m., according to his obituary.
The funeral service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday in the First Congregational Church of Sutton at 307 Boston Road.
