Norwin community comes together to honor 2 former football players killed in recent crashes
IRWIN, Pa. — A Westmoreland County community took a moment Friday before the first high school football game of the year to remember two people killed in recent crashes.
Josiah Pastories, 19, and Colin Bargiel, 16, were killed in separate crashes recently. Before Friday's game against Penn-Trafford, Norwin remembered the two, who played on the team.
The happiest days of Pastories life were spent on the gridiron.
"He would get pumped up, he would pump up the team, he was so excited," his mother, Lisa Marie Pastories, said.
She last saw her 19-year-old son two months ago.
"He was on his way to work, it was a freak accident," she said.
The Norwin football alum died in a June car crash. One of his former coaches stopped to chat with his mom on Friday, reminding her of what made him a special member of the football family
"He touched lives," the coach said.
"He would give you the shirt off his back," Lisa Marie Pastories said. "He would help anyone in need, and he had a very big heart"
But the 19-year-old was not the only member of Norwin's family who died recently. Bargiel died in a dirtbike crash in April.
"He is going to be remembered as the loving kid who always made everyone smile," his grandmother, Patricia McNelis said.
On Friday, his mother struggled to get through the game.
"He absolutely should be out there playing this game, doing what he loved and living on to the rest of his life until he was old," McNelis said. "It's not fair."
Before Friday's game, there was a moment of silence for the two boys who will never be forgotten.
