16-Year-Old Southwest Covenant Student Dies After Collapse During Football Game

The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association said a student athlete’s death after being injured in a high school football game Friday was a tragic accident. 

Southwest Covenant Headmaster Steven Lessman confirmed Sunday morning Sophomore Peter Webb passed away from injuries sustained in Friday’s games against Strother.

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"Coaches would say that Peter was not only talented, but he worked as hard as anyone,” Lessman said in a statement. “Teachers admired his respect and discipline in the classroom. Classmates loved Peter deeply."

The association that oversees Oklahoma high school football said it's looking to see what can be learned from this terrible accident.

“By all accounts, it was one of those freak accidents,” OSSAA Executive Director David Jackson said. “It wasn’t the typical, what you look for in a football head trauma situation, where there’s colliding heads or anything like that. It was a freak accident where a player’s head made contact with the ground.

Sources at the game said Peter tackled the Strother quarterback from behind, pulling the opposing player back on top of himself as he fell backward.

“We think what we have in place that’s probably as good as anywhere else,” Jackson said. “But, when something happens, you always second guess.”

The school said Peter was the fourth of five brothers who are all accomplished athletes, however, the headmaster said each of the boys would say Peter was going to be the best of all.

"The character of this young man and the respect we all had for him cannot be contained in words," Lessman said.