LINCOLNTON, N.C. — A 10-year-old volunteer was knocked unconscious at a high school football game after police said a player on the visiting team threw a helmet into a crowd following the game. The child and his mother told Channel 9 he suffered a chipped tooth and possible concussion, and all they want now is an apology.
Noah Roseborough was volunteering as water boy for his hometown team, the Lincolnton Wolves when they hosted the Shelby Golden Lions in October.
There was an argument after the Wolves beat the Golden Lions in a play at the end of the game.
A Shelby player allegedly threw a helmet into a crowd of Lincolnton players, which hit Noah, police said.
Deasia Thompson found a doctor attending to her son in the locker room.
“He had been knocked out, completely,” said his mother Deasia Thompson. “He wasn’t responding to me at all. He was crying.”
She said the helmet chipped his tooth and a doctor said he was likely concussed.
“For a couple of days, I woke up scared and I had bad dreams,” Noah told Channel 9’s Ken Lemon.
Thompson said it happened after a confrontation between the two teams, but there were other people nearby.
“It’s just reckless. It could have hit anybody,” she said.
Thompson said she talked to police and the Shelby coach and expected a player would be reprimanded.
“Nothing has been done. Not a peep,” she said.
Police said they couldn’t determine which player through the helmet.
Thompson said she doesn’t want to punish an entire team for the actions of a few.
“This is bigger than football. This is about accountability for me,” she said.
Lemon reached out to the superintendent of Cleveland County Schools to ask for a comment about the investigation and what happened.
He hasn’t heard back.
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