TULSA, Okla. — It’s football Friday in Green Country, but the Cascia Hall Commandos will be taking the field at without offensive tackle #63, junior Collin Cottom.

The high school football player is at home recovering after collapsing on the field during last Friday’s night game.

Not only will there be a sea of navy blue at Cascia Hall’s football stadium, as students from both schools wear “Team Collin” tee shirts, but Cascia Hall’s football team has #63 stickers on their helmets. All in a show of support for offensive tackle Collin Cottom.

Those stickers are also printed with the bible verse Isaiah 46:4 which reads, in part, “I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

FOX23 asked Cascia Hall’s Head Football Coach Joe Medina what he would like to see happen on the field Friday night after what’s been a tough week.

“It’s been a stressful week for us all,” he said, “but each day was a little bit better and Collin went home yesterday so it has a good ending to it and it would be capped off with a good game for us tonight.”

The entire community has rallied to try and show their support for one of their own.

“It should be a navy out at the game,” said Cassie Barkett, “And we’re just so happy that Collin is on the way to recovery and he will get to see this.”

The Cascia Hall mom helped organize the “Team Collin” tee shirt fundraiser for the Cottom family.

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Community embraces Cascia Hall football community after offensive tackle collapses during last week’s night game

More than one thousand shirts have been sold, an effort classmates like Margaux Felty have fully supported.

“I just think it’s really important when your friends are in need to show up for them, and have their backs just like they always have yours,” she said.

At the game, there was a t-shirt table selling shirts to support Cottom. Organizers at the table told FOX23 they’ve raised around $18,000 for his family.

Medina said he has not been surprised by the outpouring of support from the community since last week’s incident.

“There’s a bigger picture here,” he said, “we play this game to teach good virtues, and one of the virtues that we learned this week was the virtue of pulling together as a community.”

Casia Hall’s opposing team, Rejoice Christian, is also playing a role in the effort.

Head Coach Brent Marley said their cheerleaders will be wearing the “Team Collin” tee shirts as a sign of support on Friday night, and during the pre-game warm up the varsity players will be wearing white tee shirts with Cottom’s number 63 written by hand on the shirts using a sharpie.

Rejoice cheerleaders also wore “Team Collin” shirts at Friday night’s game.

A statement released by the family earlier this week reads in part:

“Our son Collin, a Cascia Hall student, suffered a sudden and unexpected catastrophic medical emergency during a high school football game on the field at Victory Christian last Friday night. Although his sudden collapse was during participation in the game, it appeared to be unrelated to contact or the physicality of athletic competition. Collin is now making great strides to a full recovery. My heartfelt appreciation goes out to our Cascia Hall family for all of the gracious outpouring of love and support.”

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