“It was just a regular practice,” Hollidaysburg assistant coach Joe Montrella said “They were doing special teams. They were doing a punt return scenario, and Spencer was covering the punt as a tackler. He got hit as part of that play right in the chest. I don’t want to say it was extremely hard. It was a decent hit, but it was nothing that you don’t see in the course of a football game on a Friday night. It just ended up being perfectly oriented where the other kid’s shoulder went right into his chest.”
Davis collapsed immediately.
“I was probably 20 yards away standing on the sideline watching the play develop,” Montrella said. “Initially, when he went down, he went down right away. It looked like the type of hit where you would lose your breath. It was more in the chest, not the head or neck, but he fell without any support and did hit hard on the ground.”
“It’s where the heartbeat was in a downward beat when he got hit, and it was just at the exact time that caused his heart to go into arrest,” Jen said. “He’s a healthy 16-year-old. Never in a million years would I think I would be walking and find out that my child was in cardiac arrest. Concussions? Yes. He’s had concussions. A broken limb? Sure. It’s a contact sport, but I never in a million years thought he would go into cardiac arrest from a hit.”
Even though Spencer was familiar with the Hamlin hit and aftermath, he didn’t really think it would be possible at the high school level.
“Even after the Damar Hamlin incident, I was thinking it would take someone like that strong — someone who is NFL material that benches 225 pounds at the combine for 18 reps to impact someone like this,” Spencer said.
