High school football in New Jersey has to tackle major concerns.
Students at St. John's Vianney are praying for a football player to recover after he was medevacked from the field following a collision on Friday night.
Aaron Van Terease had no feeling in his lower body when he was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital. His schoolmates are asking for a miracle to pull him through.
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"Faith is what drives everything that we do, I believe that faith is what is gonna get Aaron back on his feet," said Margaret J. Kane, Principal of St. John Vianney High School.
The school is keeping its faith, but parents know that sports like football can lead to serious injuries.
"It was just a terrible, terrible accident and it was unfortunate," parent Oleg Zaltsman said.
In fact, the Center for Disease Control latest statistics of sports injuries reveals football, basketball, pedal cycling and soccer are responsible for most of the injuries.
But last week, Linden football player Xavier McClain died after suffering a traumatic injury in a game on September 9 against Woodbridge. Even in their pain, the Linden school reached out to the school in Holmdel.
NJ high school football player dies after on-field injury
"Their football team reached out to us, and we just reached back out to them and said you are in our prayers as you go through this," Kane said.
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