Norcross, Meadowcreek honor car crash victims with moment of silence

Painted on the 25-yard line at Norcross' Blue Devil Stadium was a blue ribbon with the letters "MHS" to honor the four Meadowcreek students involved in a tragic car crash on Oct. 27. Norcross hosted Meadowcreek for a high school football game on Friday. (photo credit Alex Makrides)

Credit: amakrides00

Credit: amakrides00

Painted on the 25-yard line at Norcross' Blue Devil Stadium was a blue ribbon with the letters "MHS" to honor the four Meadowcreek students involved in a tragic car crash on Oct. 27. Norcross hosted Meadowcreek for a high school football game on Friday. (photo credit Alex Makrides)

Prior to Friday night’s Meadowcreek, Norcross high school football game at Blue Devil Stadium, the teams and crowd shared a 15-second moment of silence honoring the victims from an October car crash that killed three teenagers and left one in critical condition.

On Oct. 27, four Meadowcreek students were driving from a Meadowcreek High School football game against Parkview. The driver of the car and the three passengers swerved to avoid a collision, left the road and went down an embankment.

Killed in the accident were the driver, Brandon Martinez, 18, and two passengers, Nelson Umanzor, 18, and Naseer Alwakeel, 16.

The other passenger, Mesiah Allen, 17, was in critical condition, but awoke from a coma on Wednesday.

Many Meadowcreek players prior to the game were emotional, some even breaking down in tears.

“We talked about it before the game, but they understood, we had plenty of support around them but it has just been a tough week,” Meadowcreek head coach Jason Carrera said after the game, a 33-6 Norcross win.

Also, painted on the 25-yard lines of the field were blue ribbons with “MHS” written across them in white letters, which are meant to honor the four students involved in the car crash.

“We tried to honor them with the ribbon, but you can’t ever do enough when something like that happens,” Norcross head coach Keith Maloof said.