The Associated Press is reporting that a Missouri high school football player died Thursday after being hospitalized with a brain injury during his team's playoff football game in October.
Chad Stover, a junior at Tipton High School, was hospitalized on October 31 with an undisclosed injury that was described as "very serious." Stover was taken off the field and transported by ambulance to a hospital in nearby Columbia, according to Scott Jarvis, the Tipton superintendent.
Officials have not said how exactly Stover was injured.
The death has shaken up the small town of Tipton, with a population of about 3,000 people. From the AP:Stover was a very popular, intelligent student, and the Stovers are active members of the Tipton school community, Jarvis said last week.
"If you wanted to pick a kid to be your son, that'd be the one you'd pick," Jarvis said.
The Missouri State High School Activities Association is reviewing how Stover was injured and how school officials dealt with the injury. An MSHSAA spokesman told the AP that preliminary information indicates the school did follow its action plan.
This is the second high school football player to die as a result of head injury this week.
Update: According to Mid-Missouri's CBS affiliate, "A source close to the situation told KRCG 13 that Chad had an undiagnosed preexisting medical condition, which may have been triggered by his participation in a contact sport."
