Officials said a football player from West Catholic Preparatory High School in Philadelphia died on Tuesday after falling to the ground during a warm-up before the melee with Cotsville High School.

The Chester County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as 16-year-old Evan Hicks, a junior winger for the Balls University team.

When the incident occurred, Hicks was supposed to participate in the seven-on-seven melee in Cotsville.

Hicks was taken to Brandy Hospital and was pronounced dead at 6:43 pm

The coroner’s office said it had scheduled an autopsy on Friday to determine the cause of death.

Research on football-related deaths of high school and college athletes has increasingly pointed out that heat-related diseases are common causes of death. Between 1995 and 2018, the average Every year 3 football players die from diseases related to high temperature, Although according to data from the National Catastrophic Sports Injury Research Center, this number has declined slightly in recent years due to increased awareness and prevention.

In high school and college combined, the United States There are an average of 12 deaths related to football each year, The indirect systemic cause is twice that of direct blunt trauma. The most common causes of death for these athletes are heart failure, brain injury and heat stroke. Compared with high school football players, college-level deaths are much more common.

There was no more information about Hicks’ death on Wednesday afternoon.