High School Football Player Dies After Lightning Strike

Two Others In Serious But Stable Condition

 

 

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. -- A teenage football player was killed and several people were injured in a lightning strike during a football game between Monarch High School and Pompano High School on Wednesday.

At about 5:30 p.m., Schaffner Noel, 15, was hit in the chest by the lightning and transported to Broward General Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Coconut Creek police spokeswoman Judy Banks said.

Another junior varsity player, Malcolm Sylvester, and cheerleader Kristy Plaut, were standing next to Noel and also were injured. They were hospitalized in serious but stable condition, Banks said.

A police officer also fell down and 10 other students were treated at Monarch High School for cuts, bruises and abrasions, Banks said.

School officials said they had called off the football game when the storm began, and the students were coming off the field when the player was struck.

"I ran and I saw people shaking on the floor," one student said.

"There was a bolt, and it was like little stems came off and then smoke came off," student Craig Wohlitka said. "It felt like it hit me in the chest, like I felt a big thud.

Banks added that witnesses described the sensation of being struck as being "sprayed with electricity."

Many said no one could have foreseen the incident.

"Especially playing football, you think of neck injuries, a break in something, but a lightning strike is definitely the last thing you're thinking about," Wohlitka said.

Students gathered at the field Wednesday night to hold a candlelight vigil as they tried to come to grips with the loss of one of their classmates. People who knew Noel said he was a great kid who would do anything for his friends.

Players, coaches and friends also gathered at Broward General Medical Center Wednesday evening, stunned by what had happened on the field.

"We were practicing on another field, and I'll tell you that lightning just came out of nowhere, out of nowhere. These kids were being led off the field and they just didn't make it," varsity coach Marc Abrostsky said.

Other athletes on an adjacent field dove for cover, without knowing at first what happened.

Lightning detection systems exist. Their use, their cost and the policies in place will be a part of the debate in the wake of the student's death, NBC 6's Michael Williams reported.

The lightning detection systems cost several thousand dollars apiece. It is not clear if any Broward County schools have such systems.

Broward school officials had no comment Wednesday evening.

 

Thanks to:

 

This is my school. We are all very sadened by the lost. Noel is the ifrst fallen Knight.

 

Schools website-Monarch Knights

That sucks dude.

My prayers go to his family.

Sad Story. Monarch High School is right down the road on Wiles. Don't why they were still playing with lightning out anyway. The school board can't simply ignore this as a freak accident.

They heard lightning and they called the game with 10 mins left in the 4th. Just after the first bolt when they called the game, a second bolt came down and hit Schaffner then a bunch others fell to the ground. Their is no lightning detector at Monarch but their is one at Sable Pines Park, Quiet Waters Park, Tradewinds Elementary, and Lyons Creek Middle. None of which went off.

 

So sad.

 

Knights prevail.

That's awful man.

 

I came uber close to getting struck last year.

My thoughts and prayers are with noel's family.

That's awful man.

 

I came uber close to getting struck last year.

 

 

 

What happend?How close?

 

 

As said it a gillion times, football games should be called off earlier.

Mariner's Tony McKenna Field is named after a victim of lightning.