Brainerd high school senior suffers serious head injury during football game

BRAINERD, Minn. -- A Brainerd high school senior is in the hospital recovering from emergency brain surgery after an apparent head injury he sustained on the field.

Conner Erickson, 17, is the team's captain in his senior season.

"Seeing the outpouring of love and support from classmates and parents and community, it speaks volumes to who he is as a kid outside of sports," Jared Erickson, Conner's uncle, told WCCO. "He's a true leader and everyone he can get behind."

The Brainerd Warriors were playing in Moorhead on Friday night. Game video showed Erickson, playing defensive, walked off the field with around 4:30 left in the fourth quarter. About 10 minutes later, the announcers indicate an ambulance has arrived.

"He went down to the sideline, behind a couple of players, took a knee, and a coach came over," Jared Erickson explained. "And thank Gd that coach was there because he called 911 right away when Conner basically [collapsed] leaning against the coach's leg."

Erickson's critical injury is the second such incident on the field for a Minnesotan in as many weeks after a 15-year-old Bloomington football player, Ethan Glynn, suffered a devastating injury during the season opening football game against Chaska. 

"We ask everyone to keep Conner and the Erickson family in their thoughts and prayers," the Brainerd Warrior football team said in a post. "Conner continues to be hospitalized in the ICU where he needs more time to rest and heal."

Posts from the family indicated Erickson was able to move his extremities but his prognosis remains unknown at this point.

"Within the next 24 hours is when the swelling will peak from what the doctors are saying," Erickson told WCCO. "And from there they'll be able to start lowering the sedative and start waking him up."

In addition to his love of football, Erickson is also the captain of the Brainerd hockey team. He's also an avid angler.

"When he wakes up, he'll be more upset that he missed fishing this past weekend," his uncle quipped. .