Spring into action

Chadron State’s football spring game ends early with a hard hit

The Spring Game filled with live action and a mix of skill challenges for extra entertainment between quarters ended two and a half minutes early following a serious injury to one of the football players Friday on Elliott Field at Done Beebe Stadium.

“I feel like the spring game went really good overall,” Rodarial Abercrombie, redshirt freshman of Sand Bernardino, California, said. “It was a lot of fun for us to go out there and compete with a crowd watching and it was also really fun with all the little games in between quarters and stuff.”

Abercrombie injured his neck following a collision with one of his teammates. With two minutes and 35 seconds left of the fourth quarter, the game was called as an ambulance arrived on the field.

While being moved toward the ambulance on a stretcher, Abercrombie was seen moving his extremities

“I’m doing fine,” Abercrombie said. “Luckily my back and neck aren’t broken or fractured. I just ended up with a concussion, so I’ve just been resting.”

Due to snow forecasted for Saturday morning, the spring game was rescheduled to begin at 5 p.m., Friday. The game consisted of 10-minute running clock quarters, only stopping for special teams.

Scoring was arranged so the defense could earn as many points as the offense.

“I’m really excited for us to just get closer as a team and better,” Abercrombie said. “One thing that I feel about this year’s team is that everyone as a whole has become really close, we are all like brothers. I’m excited to see us continue to get better over the summer and in the fall and by the time season comes we’ll be ready.”

Between quarters, for extra entertainment, skill challenges also contributed to points on the board. After the first quarter was a punt, pass, and kick competition; after halftime wide receivers and defensive backs attempted pass rush drills; and after the third linemen fielded punts. There was supposed to be a fourth challenge, linemen would go out for passes in one-one-one drills, but due to the injury it didn’t happen.

By the end of the competition, the defense nearly doubled the offense’s score, 44-28.