With just under 11 minutes left to play in the game, a snap sailed over the head of Fredonia quarterback Davion White. As White and multiple Portville Panthers went diving for the ball, White was landed on. Portville recovered the ball, and White was left writhing in pain on the ground.

Coaches from both teams attended to White, who appeared to remain conscious for the duration of the ensuing moments. White moved his legs on multiple occasions while he was treated for the injury.

Multiple emergency medical technicians joined in the aid of White, who eventually was placed on a stretcher and wheeled across the Orange Bowl field to an ambulance parked near the entrance of the field approximately 100 yards away.

The injury was characterized by Fredonia head coach Greg Sherlock after the game as an upper body injury. Sherlock did not want to speculate further on his quarterback’s injury status.

OBSERVER Photo by Ashleigh Brown Fredonia's Davion White hands the ball off to Jameson Quinn.

After play resumed, the Portville Panthers held a 34-20 lead at the time of the incident en route to a 41-20 victory in Class C South football at the Orange Bowl in Fredonia on Friday night.

Fredonia (1-3, 0-3) was motivated to respond to last week’s disappointing showing against rival Southwestern, in which Fredonia lost 48-18 on its home field. Without two-way standout Sam Atzrott, who missed Friday’s game due to injury, the Hillbillies relied on a rushing attack exclusively featuring White and Jamison Quinn, the team’s standout receiver who started at running back on Friday.

White and Quinn certainly did their part early, as Quinn tallied 103 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, while White added 65 yards and a touchdown of his own.

However, Fredonia did not complete its first pass for positive yardage, or tally a yard from a player other than White or Quinn until the first drive of the third quarter when White hit Tim Field on a slant for 21 yards.

After a deflection led to a Portville interception deep in Fredonia territory, the Panthers (3-1, 2-1) extended their lead to 34-20 on the first play of the fourth quarter. Then, just over a minute later, White was injured and the game was paused for nearly 20 minutes. When it resumed, Portville added a late touchdown and finished out the victory.

OBSERVER Photo by Ashleigh Brown Portville’s Ethan Coleman wraps up Fredonia quarterback Davion White for a tackle during Friday’s Class C South football game at the Orange Bowl.

A major storyline from the week prior was Fredonia’s lack of discipline, including multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that started even before kickoff. Sherlock felt that this week, his team represented themselves with more composure.

“Our kids kept their cool. I thought they carried themselves really well today, and I was happy with that,” Sherlock said.

White’s injury is clearly the focal point of the team’s health status, but he is not the only player in doubt for future contests. Sherlock said Atzrott’s status is still “week-to-week.” Quinn took a couple of hard hits and was held out for a good portion of the second half, and Field also left the game after a big hit.

“I wouldn’t play a kid unless they were 100% ready. That can hurt you mentally, and it can hurt them. I don’t want to do that,” Sherlock said. “… We’ll work with the people that we have and do our best.”

Next week, Fredonia travels to Salamanca to take on a Warriors team that dealt the Hillbillies their only loss in the regular season a year ago. Portville hosts Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton next week.