SELMA, Ala. — An Alabama community is mourning the death of a high school quarterback who sustained a brain injury during a game this weekend.
Caden Tellier was a junior at Morgan Academy in Selma. The injury occurred during his team's home opener on Friday night, with his parents announcing the 16-year-old's death on social media.
The exact circumstances of how the injury occurred were not clear. CNN reported that was first taken to the hospital in critical condition before his death was announced the next day.
His parents, in their social media post, indicated he was an organ donor.
“Our boy, Caden Tellier has met Jesus face to face. Everyone who knows Caden has known kindness, generosity and love, and true to his nature, he is giving of himself one more time," Tellier’s parents said Saturday in a statement, CNN reported. "Lives have been touched by the way he lived and now lives will be saved through his passing."
The school, in a statement posted to Facebook, said he had "gone to be with his Lord and Savior."
"Caden loved the Lord with all his heart and was a shining light every day he graced the halls of Morgan Academy," the statement continued. "He was a student, a friend, an athlete and most important a Christ follower.
"There are no words to describe how we feel as a school community and family."
The statement said the school will come together to support Caden's family, and that he will "never be forgotten for who he was and what he means to Morgan Academy."
The Alabama Independent School Association also posted a statement from its executive director, Michael McLendon, on Facebook, noting that the school suspended activities this week.
CNN reported Caden's family would soon schedule a service for the 16-year-old.