Two Glenbard West players seriously hurt in crash

Two Glenbard West High School students were clinging to life in critical condition late Sunday following a Friday night crash.

Senior Pierre Washington-Steel and junior Demarco Whitley, both running backs on the football team, were seriously injured in a one-car crash just before 8 p.m. Friday on Swift Road north of St. Charles Road in Glen Ellyn.

Fire department officials said both men had to be extricated from the car, which hit a pole on land owned by ComEd.

Several school officials, including head coach Chad Hetlet, declined to comment Sunday. But someone familiar with the situation, who declined to be named, said Hetlet and other school officials have been at the boys' sides with their families at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.

"The entire school is devastated," the staff member said. "No one is looking forward to walking into the building and facing this (today). It's going to be tough."

The DuPage County sheriff is handling the crash investigation, and no new details were available Sunday.

Washington-Steel transferred to Glenbard West in 2009 from Driscoll Catholic High School, where he also starred on the football and track teams.

News of the crash and the students' conditions was making the rounds on the Internet on Sunday, with one Illinois high school sports blog reporting: Whitley "broke his pelvis and damaged a lung. Pierre broke his neck and is on life support." However, medical officials have not verified the specific injuries.

• Daily Herald staff writers Marco Santana and Orrin Schwarz contributed to this report.