
A Marengo High School football player was flown to the hospital after he suffered an injury during a varsity game at Johnsburg High School Friday evening.
The incident happened around 9:45 p.m. Friday at Johnsburg High School.
The varsity game between Marengo and Johnsburg was nearing the end when a Marengo player suffered a traumatic injury.
Members of the McHenry Township Fire Protection District were already at the football stadium on standby.
Paramedics treated the boy, who is a junior, and then transported him to the helipad at Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry.
A LifeNet medical helicopter flew him to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.
Tim Froehlig, a reporter who was covering the game, said on social media that he witnessed the incident.
“Tonight was one of the most difficult nights of my 27-year journalism career. There is no playbook on how to react to watching a teenager suffer a very serious injury just feet in front of you,” Froehlig said.
Froehlig said the injured player had brief movement in his hands and feet and gave his parents a thumbs up before being transported.
The game resumed after the boy was transported and Marengo won 25-18 against Johnsburg.
In a social media post published Saturday morning, the injured player thanked the medics who transported him to the hospital.
David J. Lopez, a parent of one of Marengo’s players and also a junior football coach, said the boy is “not totally out of the woods but things are looking great for him!”
“All of his tests are coming back clear nuro, CT scan, MRI etc. He has feeling and movement in all of his body parts. He is alert and knows what’s going on. And [he] was super stoked that Marengo won!” Lopez said.
“Thoughts and prayers still with #11. Great to hear there’s been some positive news today. The JHS football wishes him nothing but the best,” the Johnsburg High School Skyhawks Football team said Saturday.