Aunt of injured Carthage player in West Genesee JV: don’t blame yourself

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Syracuse, NY – The aunt of injured Carthage football player Tyler Christman visited a rally of junior college players from West Genesee on Monday afternoon with words of consolation for the worried Wildcats.

Faith Parks told the team that the tragedy that put Christ’s life on the line Monday night was nobody’s fault. Christman apparently suffered a head injury during the junior varsity game on Saturday and collapsed on the sidelines. He was rushed to the upstate where surgery revealed swelling as well as bleeding in his frontal cortex.

She said it was an accident. No one should feel at fault, said West Genesee junior varsity coach Brian McAvan. She said Tyler wanted you to play. It was more of a message of empathy than anything else.

McAvan and varsity head coach Joe Corley both said there hasn’t been a single stand-out hit or play that could have caused the tragedy.

There was nothing to raise eyebrows. It was just a regular JV football game, McAvan said. There was no warning.

Parks was invited to the Monday reunion because McAvan, Corley and the West Genesee community raised $ 3,500 in family donations over the last day. McAvan said Parks told him the family would use the money to start a scholarship in Christmans’ name.

McAvan and his brother, Sean, are co-owners of McAvans Pub. This company is organizing a fundraiser for the Upstate Foundation, the charitable arm of Upstate. Brian said he asked the foundation to use the money raised by the pub to help the family with whatever they needed.

We did everything we could. It really is a heartbreaking situation, said Brian.

Support for Christman has poured into social media over the past two days, with students from nearby schools wearing Carthage Red to class and a community rally at a local fire department.

My news feed is a sea of ​​Red Comet Carthage. Tyler Christman, you are loved by many. Our family is speechless, grateful and humbled by the continued support across New York State, Parks said in a Facebook post.

McAvan said the entire JV squad has not been assembled since the game ended on Saturday. He said he would speak to the team about the situation ahead of practice on Tuesday.

Well talk quickly about what happened and take it from there, McAvan said.

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