Green Hope player expected to recover after injury ends season opener

RALEIGH — Green Hope's game at Wakefield on Friday ended in a 31-7 Falcon loss before the clock expired. School officials called the game early after Falcons lineman Matt Byrd was carted off the field with a neck injury, which later was diagnosed as a pinched nerve.

Byrd said he remembers crashing into another player head-on before falling to the ground. When trainers arrived to his side, he could move his extremities and talk — both of which pointed to a pinched nerve. But with the possibility of a more serious neck injury present, trainers kept him still until paramedics arrived.

It took about 40 minutes for paramedics to clear Byrd the field, which meant play wouldn't resume until about three hours after its start time. said Falcons coach Steve Katz. With only 3:37 left in the game, and a 24-point difference, officials from both teams called the game.

“[The paramedics] didn't arrive there for awhile so we weren't even able to get started again until 10 p.m. or so,” Katz said. “I felt we were really at a high risk of getting other players hurt.”

Byrd was released from the hospital on Saturday and will not play in this Friday's home opener against Leesville Road. Byrd said he's confident he will be able to play the following week when the Falcons travel to Durham to play Jordan High School.

Wakefield held Green Hope to 29 yards of total offense in the first half and largely dominated the night. But it was small consolation for the Wolverines – who have now witnessed an opposing player fall motionless in back-to-back weeks after hosting Cary High. Cary's Michael White collapsed on the sidelines on Aug. 14.

“It's not the way we wanted to end the game, for sure,” Wakefield coach J.D. Dinwiddie said.

Wakefield had gone up by three points on Niklas Sade's 35-yard field goal. But a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Wolverines the ball on the 8-yard line. Courtney Crews ran each of the next two plays to give his team the 10-0 lead.

In the third quarter, defensive back Jordan Green recovered a fumble at the Wakefield 15-yard line, which set up a Kevin Collins 5-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Drew Lloyd three plays later.

The score was 17-7 when Wakefield wide receiver Tripp Foreman scored on 62-yard punt return at the beginning of the fourth quarter. With the loss, Green Hope has now lost 17 straight games, dating back to 2007.