ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — Although Eastern Randolph and Eastern Alamance went head to head Friday in terms of football, the two schools came together as one to honor the teens hurt and killed in a Ramseur car crash Thursday.
For the Eastern Randolph community, this pain cuts deep.
On what was supposed to be an exciting start to the football season, a moment of silence was held for four teenagers involved in a car crash. Two of them died. All four are Eastern Randolph High School students.
Greg Smith attended the Eastern Randolph and Eastern Alamance game.
He graduated from Eastern Randolph in 1990 and he has a son who played basketball with Mario Lara, one of the boys who died in the crash.
"It's a deep, deep loss. I mean school is starting back next week and you're starting back with you know, a loss," Smith said.
He said he was at a junior varsity game nearby during the crash when a helicopter kept circling the area.
"We heard a helicopter, we looked back over and we saw it come back across and automatically in the back your mind, you think, you know, what's happening?" Smith said.
Come to find out, the helicopter would transport one of the victims to the hospital. Word of the crash started spreading through the crowd.
"It just really started setting that something really, really tragic happened in our community," Smith said.
Eastern Randolph Junior, Katelyn Brown, who was also in attendance at the game, is finding the situation hard to grasp.
"It was just a shocker, you know, it's a real wake up call," Brown said.
She said its made her look at life a bit differently, "It makes you think, 'dang, we're really growing up' you know? Life goes quickly and you just gotta live your life one day at a time," Brown said.
She said the Eastern Randolph community is willing to lend a helping hand to those hurting most.
"We're a small town. We know everybody's business, whether you want us or not. If somebody's got a problem, we're here to help and you know, family is family," Brown said.
Eastern Randolph beat Eastern Alamance 29 to 0.