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Last updated on Wednesday, November 8, 2017
(COLUMBUS) - Columbus North junior quarterback Trenton Kelley, who was injured in Friday night’s sectional final football loss at Center Grove, had his spleen removed on Monday.
Ted Schultz of The Republic reports that Trenton Kelley, a junior, suffered a ruptured spleen on the first drive of the game and was taken by ambulance to Community South Hospital. He was transferred to Methodist Hospital, where doctors did a two-hour surgery early Saturday morning to stop bleeding from his arteries.
The Center Grove varsity football team won Friday's home playoff game against Columbus North by a score of 20-14.
Trenton Kelley, who tied a school record with 25 touchdown passes this season, was intercepted by Center Grove's Keegan Gephart a little more than a minute into Friday's game. After Kelley tackled Gephart along the Trojan sideline, Gephart got up and pushed Kelley down onto the track and was given a personal foul penalty and ejected from the game.
The interception was nullified by a defensive holding penalty, so the Bull Dogs kept the ball, and Kelley stayed in the game. But two plays later, he was hit as he threw and was picked off again.
His father, Dennis Kelley, told The Republic, Trenton wasn't sure which hit caused the injury and didn't realize how bad he was hurting until he went to the sideline.
North athletics director Jeff Hester said he received a note Monday from Robert Faulkens, an IHSAA assistant commissioner who oversees football, asking Hester if he knew about the injury. Hester and assistant AD Wayne Roberts had gone to the hospital to be with Kelley on Friday night.
Video from the game provided to The Republic shows a Center Grove player stepping on Kelley's knee as he tries to step over him to congratulate Gephart. It also shows Kelley being thrown down onto the track and Center Grove players swarming him. Other players who were involved say punches were thrown. But the video did not capture any kicks or punches in the crowd.
North Team Doctor Cary Guse says it will take about six to eight weeks for Kelley to recover and should not effect his future football career.
Dennis Kelley says d football coaches Tim Bless and Jason Perry and trainers Steve Souder and Ashley Martin, as well as other teammates and friends, have been to Methodist to see Trenton.
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