High School Player Dies After Football Practice

A high school student collapsed during football practice in Florida on Tuesday. He was taken to a hospital, where he died, NBC Miami reports. The teenager attended Citrus High School in Inverness, north of Tampa. The school did not release his name or age. In a Facebook post, school officials expressed sympathy and said they had been in touch with the student's family. A post on the district's Facebook page said a crisis team would be at Citrus for the rest of the week to provide counseling and other help. The Citrus High Hurricanes' Friday night game has been canceled, reports Bay News 9.

"We have suffered a great loss tonight and the pain we all feel is immeasurable," Principal Laura Mason wrote in a post. A spokeswoman said no more information would be released in consideration of the family, per the Citrus County Chronicle. An average of three middle and high school football players die each season, per NBC. The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research has found that most such deaths in the past decade were related to overexertion, such as heat stroke, or from existing conditions, including heart problems. (More high school football stories.)