LAKE PARK —
A member of the Lowndes High School football team is in a hospital intensive care ward after a Saturday accident in Lake Park, according to the Georgia State Patrol. The Vikings’ head coach said it is a “serious situation.”
Jacob McCook, 17, was riding in the back of a pickup truck on Cypress Lake Trail, about a mile west of Loch Laurel Road, at 2:27 p.m. when the truck, which was towing a trailer, started into a turn, said Cpl. Harvey Williford of the state patrol, reading from a state patrol report.
Unsecured cargo in the truck bed shifted, then fell out, knocking McCook out of the back of the truck as well, Williford said.
McCook was taken to South Georgia Medical Center with “non-incapacitating injuries,” Williford said.
Tallahassee Medical Center in Tallahassee, Fla., later confirmed he had been transferred there. No information was available from the hospital Sunday on his condition.
Randy McPherson, head coach for the Vikings, went to the hospital in Tallahassee Sunday. He said McCook suffered severe head trauma and is in the intensive care unit.
“He’s in very serious condition,” McPherson said. “He needs our prayers right now.”
McCook’s family is holding up “as well as can be expected,” McPherson also said.
McCook, a rising senior, plays center on the offensive line, said James Brown, the Vikings’ offensive line coach. “He was figuring heavily into playing quite a bit, if not starting” in the upcoming year, Brown said. “He’s a fine and talented young man. He got some playing time in varsity games (last year), but most of his time was on the B-team.”
McPherson said the young man has been playing football in the Lowndes County school system since middle school. He also said McCook has been competing for a starting spot.
“All we can do is pray now and let the doctors do their job,” Brown said.
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