A Page High School sophomore died days after suffering an injury on the opening kickoff of a junior varsity football game, his family says, marking the second youth football death in Guilford County within a month. Davion Fewell was hurt during the September 10 matchup against Grimsley High School and was rushed from the field to Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro before he later died.
Fewell was playing running back for Page's junior varsity squad when he was injured on the opening kickoff of the Thursday night game, according to Greensboro Sports. Guilford County EMS confirmed transporting one patient from Page High School at 7:17 p.m. that night, and Fewell's family has since confirmed to WFMY News 2 that his death resulted from the injuries he sustained during the game. Page Principal Erik Naglee confirmed Fewell's death in an email sent Sunday night, according to The North Carolina Beat.
Officials have not released a medical cause for the injury or a play-by-play account of what happened on the field, and Naglee has not publicly described the nature of the injury itself, per the same outlet's report. That leaves open whether Fewell suffered a direct traumatic impact or an underlying medical episode, a question that remains unresolved as of this writing.
A Rising Sprinter Alongside the Gridiron
Beyond football, Fewell was a dual-sport athlete who competed in outdoor track and field during the spring 2026 season as a freshman, according to performance records published by MileSplit North Carolina. He posted personal-best times of 11.99 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 24.54 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Fewell was a member of Page's Class of 2029, per The North Carolina Beat's reporting.
Page High School will make grief counselors available on campus Monday, and the school plans to post counseling and grief resources on its website. Naglee said the school community was extremely saddened by the loss and asked families to keep the Fewell family in their thoughts, according to The North Carolina Beat.
Second Loss for Guilford County Schools in a Month
Fewell's death comes just a month after a middle school player from Northwest Guilford High School died following a medical emergency during football practice in August 2026. Northwest Guilford issued public condolences to Page High School following Fewell's death, according to WFMY News 2, underscoring a troubling pattern of sudden medical emergencies among Guilford County student-athletes within a single month.
MaxPreps rosters for Page's 2026–2027 season also list senior defensive lineman Nazion Fewell on the varsity team, but Greensboro Sports reported there is no confirmed family relationship between Nazion and Davion Fewell. Both were rostered at Page during the same academic year, though the outlet cautioned against assuming any connection between them.
A School With a Painful History of Sports Tragedies
Page High School's football program carries a difficult history with sudden athlete deaths. North Carolina's Gfeller-Waller Concussion Awareness Act traces back to 2008, when 15-year-old Matthew Gfeller of Winston-Salem died from a traumatic brain injury suffered during a season-opening game against Page High School, according to Greensboro Sports and the Gfeller-Waller Law project at UNC. That law established statewide requirements for student concussion education, written medical clearance before returning to play, and mandatory athletic emergency action plans, including immediate removal of any student-athlete showing concussion symptoms.
In June 2016, incoming Page freshman Karson Cross, then 14, collapsed during a summer football conditioning workout and died from exertional sickling associated with sickle cell trait, Greensboro.com reported at the time. That case prompted regional discussions about athlete health screenings and exertion risks that continue to shape safety conversations at the school.
Under North Carolina General Statutes § 115C-407.58, all public middle and high schools in the state must maintain written, venue-specific Emergency Action Plans for interscholastic sports, approved by the principal, reviewed by a licensed athletic trainer, and rehearsed annually by coaches, school nurses, and first responders, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. The statute requires clear protocols for emergency transport and role delegation on the sidelines.
A Rare but Persistent National Risk
Fewell's death arrives against a backdrop of sobering national statistics on youth football safety. A landmark epidemiological study from the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at UNC Chapel Hill, published on PubMed, found that high school and college football fatalities averaged 12.2 per year between 1990 and 2010, with non-traumatic causes like cardiac failure and heat stroke outnumbering direct traumatic injuries by more than two to one. Traumatic brain injuries accounted for roughly 25.5 percent of the catastrophic deaths tracked in that study.
Separately, North Carolina Health News reported that 735 high school student-athletes nationwide died participating in school sports between 1982 and 2015, citing the same research center's data. Three-quarters of those fatalities were attributed to physical exertion or cardiac events, and high school football recorded higher catastrophic injury rates than the collegiate game, the outlet noted.
For now, Page High School's community is left to grieve without full answers about what happened on the field. Grief counselors remain available to students as the school continues to lean on resources posted to its website in the days following Fewell's death.
