Teachers Remember 13-Year-Old Lexington Student Who Died After Football Injury

The Lexington community is mourning after a middle schooler lost his life on the football field. Riley Boatwright was on the field Tuesday, when he went down and never got back up. His teachers remember the student as someone who had a heart of gold. Read

Wednesday, September 25th 2019, 11:26 pm

By: News 9

Teachers Remember 13-Year-Old Lexington Student Who Died After Football Injury

The Lexington community is mourning after a middle schooler lost his life on the football field.

Riley Boatwright was on the field Tuesday, when he went down and never got back up.

His teachers remember the student as someone who had a heart of gold.

“From the moment that I met him, I just fell in love with him,” said Boatwright’s Pre-K teacher Audra Skaggs.

Skaggs was Boatwright's first teacher.

“I knew him when he was just a little bitty thing, I had him and his brother in Pre-K together,” said Skaggs.

She along with others watched as he grew into a young man that they were proud to know.

“The first time you ever meet him and talk to him, in five minutes I mean, you just love this kid,” said Lexington Agriculture instructor Ronnie Oehlschlager.

“He was just like an old man, everything was yes ma'am, would never let a woman open the door, would never let me carry anything, he was going to carry it for you just a great, great kid,” said Lexington Middle School teacher Marci Bean.

Skaggs was in the stands cheering when her former student went down.

“The longer that he laid there, the more we realized just watching his dad's face and his mom that something was terribly wrong,” said Skaggs.

Riley never got up and was rushed away in ambulance.

“When he left the field, none of us were certain what it happened,” said Skaggs.

She said everyone got down on one knee and prayed.

“I think it's really difficult, because football is just a sport and no one supposed to, it's not supposed to turn out that way,” said Skaggs.

Within hours, they learned the Riley was gone.

“We all were and are still in a state of shock,” said Skaggs.

Still numb, Skaggs said the district is asking for prayers as their community grieves.

“Our kids have seen so much sadness that they really need prayers from everyone, as much as they can get,” said Skaggs.

Boatwright is the second football player to die in Oklahoma within the past two weeks.

His cause of death has not been determined.

Click here for a link to his GoFundMe page.

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