Stanwood football player in stable condition

Published 11:38 pm Saturday, September 13, 2008

The Stanwood High School football player who was injured Friday in the Meadowdale versus Stanwood game is still at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Stanwood head coach Dick Abrams said Saturday.

“He is improving. He’s in stable condition,” Abrams said.

The injured player is Ben Zipp, a junior in his third year with the Spartans football program. Zipp, 16, suffered a subdural hematoma — the result of a serious head injury — at an undetermined point during the game, Stanwood-Camano School District spokesperson Cathy Britt said.

The MedlinePlus online encyclopedia defines a subdural hematoma as “a collection of blood on the surface of the brain” and “among the deadliest of all head injuries.”

According to Stanwood’s roster, Zipp is a 6-foot-1, 205-pound running back/linebacker.

After playing defense during a drive that ended in a Meadowdale touchdown late in the first quarter, Zipp walked off the field and told a trainer he was injured, Abrams said.

“The next thing I knew they were calling for a helicopter to come in and to clear the field,” Abrams said.

Zipp was airlifted to Harborview. Stanwood officials decided to suspend the game with Meadowdale leading 14-7 a few plays into the second quarter. It’s not clear if the non-division game will be completed later this season, Abrams said.

Abrams, Stanwood administrators and many community members drove to Harborview to support Zipp, said Abrams.

Zipp will be in the intensive-care unit at Harborview for three days and will stay in the hospital for at least a week, Britt said.

The best news, Britt said, is Zipp will be OK.

Many members of the Stanwood community and football teammates have visited Zipp at Harborview, Britt said. Zipp’s parents told Britt Saturday they “have been overwhelmed by the amount of support that they’ve received from the Stanwood community.”

After reviewing the game film, coach Abrams and his assistant coaches can’t pinpoint a particular play in which Zipp was injured.

“It’s still a mystery to us what happened,” Abrams said.

Zipp also plays basketball. He was a reserve wing on the 2007-2008 Spartans team.

When the seriousness of Zipp’s injury unfolded and the helicopter arrived, the crowd at the game was “devastated,” said Abrams.

In more than 30 years of coaching plus a lengthy playing career before that, Abrams said he had never seen anything like what happened Friday night. Stanwood administrators’ decision to suspend the game “was the correct call,” Abrams said. “Everybody’s just praying for our player.”

As he was being loaded into the helicopter, Zipp gave teammates and coaches a thumbs-up signal, Abrams said.

Meadowdale coaches and players were very supportive during the entire ordeal, Abrams said.

Like hundreds of others at the game, Meadowdale head coach Mark Stewart was stunned by Zipp’s medical emergency.

“Basically we didn’t really see any specific play or anything (where the injury occurred).

“All the sudden he’s hurt and they’re working on (Zipp) on the sideline.”

Asked about the decision to suspend the game — which Abrams said likely will not be completed — Stewart, a former University of Washington All-American and NFL player, said: “It is obviously unusual. I’ve never been involved in one. But you’ve got to respect what a community and player and teammates want, so we had no problem with what they wanted to do.”

“In football sometimes things happen,” said Stewart. “Certainly it affects you a little bit but I think (Meadowdale players) were happy to hear that supposedly he’s doing OK. We were happy to hear that.”

Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.