By Greg Bond
The Daily News
Copyright 2007 The Daily News
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — There were plenty of questions to concern the Jacksonville Raiders after their 28-12 season-opening victory over the New Bern Grizzlies on Saturday. And most of them weren’t concerning the game plan.
Dealing with the welfare of the players’ health came into focus after New Bern’s Takirra L. Koonce collapsed during the game and died after being taken to Craven Memorial Hospital in New Bern.
A main concern dealt with the lack of a an ambulance at Grover C. Fields Middle School where the game was played. According to the New Bern Sun Journal, there was no ambulance at the Mason-Dixon Football League game, but one was called in after a police officer called 911.
While all high schools are required to have an ambulance on the field at every football game, the MDFL doesn’t require teams to have an ambulance at the playing field. The decision is left to the owners of each team.
“I feel that if they have it for the high schools, then they should have it for us regardless,” said assistant coach Lonnie Chapell. “It’s a football game and that’s what it is. Me and (head) coach John Davis were shocked because we’ve been with the league since 2000 and we have never had anybody to die like that. It was really shocking to us even though we won.
“The way I see it, if the ambulance was there Saturday and didn’t have to come (from the hospital), they could have done more for (Koonce) instead of coming and working on him and then send him (to the hospital).”
Coach Davis agreed.
“I feel that we should (have an ambulance) because you have first response on the field,” Davis said.
This isn’t the first time that a medical situation has occurred during a game. Raiders’ wide receiver Edwardo Morrison broke his leg against Goldsboro in 2005 at Liversedge Field aboard Camp Lejeune. There was no ambulance at the game, so his wife had to drive their car onto the field to take him to the hospital.
“They didn’t have (an ambulance out there),” Morrison said. “They should have some type of emergency response team there. They didn’t have anything. The only people who were there were my teammates. We had an athletic trainer. I think he was there at the time. He was volunteering at the time. He assisted me as much as he could.
“Everybody out here volunteers their time ... and this is for the community. I think that the community had not pulled together to support this team as far as what we are giving to the community. They have not pulled together to give us back.”
Chapelle also noted that in 2006 another player broke his leg and needed his wife to take him to the hospital.
After Saturday’s incident, the Raiders have made changes. For the rest of the season, Jacksonville will have an ambulance on the football field starting with this Saturday’s game against Wilmington at Northside High. Even though the hospital is nearby, coaches know how important it is to use every precious second.
Raiders’ owner Charles Oates said something like this shouldn’t happen and believes the topic will come up at the next league meeting.
“My heart goes out to the Koonce family,” he said. “It’s a shame for this to happen for it to come out.”