S. Elgin football player airlifted from practice, doing OK

After a scary afternoon when a 16-year-old junior at South Elgin High School was airlifted from football practice to a trauma center, things were looking better Saturday night.

The young man complained of numbness and grogginess Saturday and was airlifted to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.

“The doctors have cleared him, but they are keeping him for observation,” said Melanie Meidel, principal of the school. “It was a practice drill, a soft drill from what I understand. I was not there for the practice, but I was there during the airlift.”

The decision to send the player by helicopter to the hospital as a precaution was made by the responders from South Elgin & Countryside Fire Protection District and the district’s athletic training staff, said the principal.

The player’s father was at the practice, said Tony Sanders, chief of staff for Elgin Area School District U-46.

The practice was at Kenyon Woods Middle School, 1515 Raymond St., said Lt. Arnie Zabran of the fire protection district.