On Friday, Sept. 24, the Laramie Plainsmen faced off against the Kelly Walsh Trojans in Casper. During play 149, Laramie high school student, Pablo Zepeda, was hit helmet to helmet, resulting in a severe injury.
The Plainsmen head coach, Paul Ronga, said, “It happened at the very end of the game, within the last four minutes or under four minutes. Pablo played the whole game, and everything was fine. Then he just came to the sidelines, and he was out. He just sat on the bench and he had difficulty breathing. Then eventually what happened was he got off the bench, and went and kind of collapsed a bit to the floor, where he was lying on his side.”
According to Ronga, that’s when everyone realized Zepeda was extremely injured and they all started attending to him. In the chaos of the game ending, no one knew what was going on at first.
“We went back to the film, and we did find a play. It was play number 149 out of 150 some-odd plays,” Ronga said. “It was one of the last plays of the game. Pablo went to block a defender from getting at one of our players who had the ball. The defender went through Pablo, to try to tackle our a player who had the ball.”
As the defender did so, Ronga said his helmet hit Zepeda’s helmet. This is known as helmet to helmet contact.
This type of collusion in football is often called targeting, and is when a player uses the crown of their helmet to contact an opponent, according to the NCAA.
“When you target, you lead with your helmet. Obviously the film counters that, and shows different. He was leading with his helmet, but it wasn’t intentionally,” Ronga said. “It wasn’t done in a malicious way. It was just the act of the play, and the result of the play.”
Following the hit, Ronga said Zepeda fell backwards like a domino.
“To his credit,” Ronga added, “he sprung back up and even played a couple more plays. Then he started feeling it, like a delayed reaction.”
Unfortunately, by the time EMS was called, the ambulance had left the stadium, according to Ronga. This resulted in delayed aid for Zepeda, as the ambulance had to return and go through the traffic of fans leaving the game.
Zepeda was flown to Denver when doctors determined he would need surgery, due to blood on his brain, said Ronga.
Zepeda is still in Denver recovering, though Ronga said he is doing well from the reports he has received.
According to the Go Fund Me site for Zepeda, his family was able to get him up and walking for the first time.
The fundraiser was created by Laurie Reh Jaskolski, who has not responded to comment. The fundraiser can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/pablo-zepedas-medical-expenses?fbclid=IwAR35Phfchagr6LTvWBGMJ8G602g_gA0CEQu1YDFxhLh6SY03TOMNYXJRJl4
The Plainsmen had their Homecoming game Friday, Oct. 1 at Laramie High School, where the players honors Zepeda by wearing his number on their helmets.
