Florida high school football player suffers severe brain injury during game

NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida teen is recovering Saturday after being injured during a Friday night football game.

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Hilliard High School's starting quarterback, Nathan Dowie, is being treated at UF Health hospital in Jacksonville.

His father, Sean Dowie, was at the game and said he's not quite sure what caused the injury.

Dowie said after his son scored a touchdown, he took a hard fall. That's when things took a turn for the worse.

"His head went into the ground, and he sort of flipped over. We're sort of suspecting that may have been the time where it happened," Dowie said.

One of Dowies's coaches, Byron Crews, said he noticed something was very wrong after the game.

"He was feeling fine, got in the locker room and he started feeling really sick, and at that time the trainer knew we needed to call 911, get him to the hospital," Crews said.

Dowie was rushed to the hospital, and doctors had to perform surgery overnight because they found bleeding on his brain.

"All they told us was that he did have a bleed in his brain and that they evacuated it and stopped the bleeding," Nathan's father said.

The teen is now recovering at UF health with his family and friends by his side. Although they're worried about his health, they're optimistic about his healing and hopeful No. 8 will be back on the field.

"It's hard, but we're all hanging in there," Dowie said.

If you would like to know how you can help Nathan with his recovery, contact Hilliard Football Club President Billy Moore at 904-228-3904.

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