Syracuse, N.Y. — For about 30 minutes on Friday night, five medical workers huddled over a stricken CBA football player who was fighting odds that suggested he would die on the field.

But he did not.

For a variety of reasons ranging from the spiritual to clinical, that player survived a tremendous scare and remains in Upstate hospital on his way to what is expected to be a full recovery.

And amid the swirl of trauma, that is the one important certainty everyone impacted by the gut-churning scene turns to for comfort.

"The bad news is something bad happened to a really great kid. The good news is that he didn’t die and that he’s going to end up being fine,'' said Joe Reagan, one of the doctors who helped with the rescue effort. "You really got to understand. This could have gone another way. And it didn’t.''

Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard is withholding the player's name at this time. CBA has asked that no information about the player's current medical treatment be released other than to emphasize he's doing well.

Beyond that, a few of the key figures in turning the episode from a potential disaster into a rescue story recently agree to piece together how that half-hour unfolded.

The Brothers are fortunate to have two doctors on their staff of assistant coaches. Reagan, a retired anesthesiologist, works with the defensive line and Mike Picciano, a family practitioner, assists with video and replay.

With a couple minutes left in the first half of a game against visiting Elmira, the Brothers scored a touchdown. The player was on the field for that score and began to walk off. At about the 10-yard line, he collapsed onto his back.

CBA coaches initially rushed onto the field, and quickly signaled for Reagan, Picciano and long-time trainer Randy Kinn. It was a sweltering night. Kinn noticed that the player's skin wasn't just clammy; it was alarmingly hot.

CBA huddles after its 49-24 loss to Elmira. A player collapsed during the game and was taken to Upstate University Hospital. (Chris Libonati | clibonati@syracuse.com)

The trio was soon joined on the field by Ben Connor, a physician's assistant, and Upstate spinal surgeon Rich Tallarico, who was at the game because his son, Leo, had been called up from the CBA junior varsity.

Brothers head coach Casey Brown moved all his player to the end zone at the far end of the field. Reagan said the doctors were concerned about a possible head injury at first and peppered the fallen player with questions.

What's your name? Why are you here? Who is the president? Reagan said the player initially provided all the correct answers.

"When I got out there it was just a very weird vibe. He was totally with it, conversant, but had some odd behaviors,'' Picciano said. "It took a minute or two to take in the situation and realize that it wasn’t a typical football injury. It wasn’t a head injury, it wasn’t a lower body injury. It was something different. And then the situation went from a young man who was conversant to a young man who was quickly not responsive.''

The situation worsened when the group tried to sit up the player but he flopped right back down. Reagan said the player's skin began to turn gray. His breathing became labored. He wasn't responsive.

"We could see that something very bad was going on, and we didn’t have any idea why,'' Reagan said. "There’s lots of things that could have been going on at this point. He was very, very hot. We were considering heat stroke and dehydration. We were considering a head injury that was not obvious. All that we really knew is that his physical status was changing and deteriorating rapidly.''

The player lapsed into unconsciousness and his heart stopped. According to data compiled in 2014, the survival rate of people who suffer a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital but with immediate CPR treatment available is about 45 percent.

The doctors called for an automated external defibrillator (AED), which was stored just outside the playing field. After attachment, an AED can assess the status of a heart. The device immediately indicated that the player's heart was not beating, and that a shock was immediately needed.

After one shock, the AED communicated with the heart again.

It was beating.

Reagan estimated that the player's heart had been silent for about 90 seconds. He said at three to four minutes of heart stoppage, brain damage can to come into play.

While awaiting the arrival of the ambulance, the group urgently tried to maintain the player's vital signs and breathing. The student section repeated choruses of "The Lord's Prayer'' and "Hail Marys.'' At other times, Kinn said it grew so quiet that he heard an owl hooting in the distant trees.

"I thought to myself, how long have these people been praying? One of the coaches said they’ve been praying the whole time we’ve been down here,'' Picciano said. "That caused me to well up because I knew I had help. It was not just the people on the field. It was the whole group of people praying for the same outcome.''

The doctors tried to push aside the emotion of the moment and remain clinical. Picciano, for instance, was struggling to save one boy's life while three of his own children were just a few feet away.

His son, a JV player, was gathered in the end zone with the rest of the Brothers. One of his daughters was in the cheerleading group. Another daughter, who graduated from CBA last year, watched from the the stands.

"That little, 'Oh my god I know who it is,' crept in for a few seconds and you have to dismiss it so that you can continue to be objective,'' Picciano said. "You need to get blinders on when it’s necessary and when you take them off the experience was humbling.''

The player continued to show gradual improvement. When the ambulance arrived, instead of being lifted onto the gurney he got up and climbed on.

"We didn’t put him on the stretcher. He got up and sat on the stretcher himself, which is beyond Hollywood-movie type stuff,'' Picciano said.

Meanwhile, the shaken CBA players tried to regroup in the locker room for halftime. The team discussed whether it could or should play the second half.

"They got the drift that this was a really close call,'' Reagan said.

Before every game, the Brothers bring in a guest motivational speaker. Sometimes it's a community member who is close to the program. Sometimes it's a coach from another sport in the school.

Friday's speaker was Pat Wiese, a former baseball standout for CBA and now an assistant coach in that sport for the Brothers. Wiese's topic was the importance of not giving up and playing every game like it's your last.

The Brothers decided they had to keep playing for themselves and their peer in the hospital.

"There are a lot of, I would say coincidences, but I believe there are more than coincidences from that night,'' Picciano said of Wiese's pregame words hitting home.

Players, coaches and other well-wishers filled the player's hospital room over the weekend. Before practice Monday, Brown held a team meeting to provide another encouraging update.

"He’s doing more than great,’’ said Reagan, who noted that the episode was not caused by anything football-related that happened during the game.

"They wanted to and needed to know where their teammate was. It took a few days for the facts to sort out. Now they have been versed as well as they needed to be,'' Picciano said. "They understood the explanation, they processed it. I think they need to know, A, my buddy’s OK and, B, do the doctors that are taking care of him have the technology and the expertise to get this problem fixed once and for all.''

CBA ran through what appeared from the outside to be a regular practice on Tuesday, in advance of more work this week for its game Friday at Liverpool.

Things surely aren't back to normal for the team, with the paralyzing emotion of Friday night still so raw.

But a routine has returned. Everything considered, that's probably the best everyone can ask for at this point.

"It’s very important in their lives to keep consistency. They have to get up and they have to go to school. They have to realize that there was a near-tragedy and that by really, I suppose, good luck and good fortune, that it wasn’t and that he’s well and he will continue to be well,'' Reagan said.

"The good part is that it was a near-miss and they’re processing all of that information. Part of the way they process it is to keep their schedule and keep their routine, keep this team together, not let this be a season-ending event. He almost had a very, very bad outcome, but didn’t. That’s a differential that’s important.''

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