TULSA -- It was considered as serious of a game as the district championship.
The Union High Redskins played the Owasso Rams on Sept. 29 at home.
The game went into double overtime. In exciting last few minutes, the Redskins walked away with the win.
Keviyon Cooper remembers his teammates celebrating in the locker room. It was a big night for the running back himself. Cooper had 145 yards and two touchdowns.
"I didn't think I would have that big of a game but everybody did their part and I did what I could," Cooper said.
He was not able to participate in the celebrations because of a bad headache.
Cooper asked to turn off the lights in the training room. He said it was making his headache worse.
The senior was checked out by trainers. When he collapsed on his way to the bathroom, they knew something was very wrong.
"I had already called 911 initially and I called them back and said "we have a true trauma going on," head trainer Dan Newman said.
Newman said Cooper looked like a baby giraffe. He was proud of the quick action his team took
The trainer called the night the "perfect storm."
"If we hadn't gone into overtime... double overtime... he probably would have gone home, gone to bed and never woke up," Newman said.
If Cooper had not said anything or if the game had been away, the outcome could have been much different.
The only brain surgeon in Tulsa was on the clock at St. Francis when Cooper showed up. He was in surgery within 90 minutes of being transported from Union High School.
That series of events is something Cooper would learn about days later.
"The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital and they asked me what day it was and I thought it was Friday," Cooper recalled. "They said it was Monday."
He was in a coma for three days and in the hospital for 29. Cooper suffered from a subdural hematoma.
Cooper went through physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy.
Besides balance issues, Cooper has made a full recovery.
No one has been able to pinpoint exactly when the injury happened.
Coaches and players visited the teen while he was in the hospital.
"He's never been without a smile on his face," Newman said. "Even with tubes coming out of his head and things like that, he has never not had a smile. Again that's a testament to that young man."
Newman brought Cooper a Rubik's cube to the hospital. He spoke abut how quickly the senior was able to solve it.
Much to his dismay, his coaches broke the news to him that his football career was over.
He started down another path in the spring. Cooper now runs track for the Redskins.
"I know God got me," Cooper said. "He's helped me all through this. To me, nothing is going to form against me."
Cooper will go to the University of Oklahoma in the fall and run collegiate track.
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