The Tri-County Academy Rebels took the field in the state championship football game Thursday with heavy hearts.
The community continues to mourn the loss of a TCA student from Mechanicsburg who was killed in a one-vehicle accident on Highway 433 Tuesday night.
Taylor Martin, 18, of Hilderbrand Road, was pronounced dead at the scene after his truck struck a tree near Sadler Road in rural Yazoo County.
Yazoo County Coroner Rickey Shivers said the accident occurred around 10 p.m. Nov. 15.
“Members of the Tri-County Community Fire Department arrived to find the driver of the pickup had been ejected after the 2006 Nissan pickup had collided with a tree,” Shiver said.
Shivers said Martin was not wearing his seatbelt and may have hit some loose gravel, losing control of his vehicle.
Martin was pronounced dead at 10:21 p.m., shortly after MedStat arrived on the scene.
“The cause of death of multi-system trauma,” Shivers said. “This Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Reconstruction Unit is currently investigating the cause of the crash.”
Martin was the starting center of the Tri-County Academy varsity football team, which fell 21-7 to Canton Academy in the state title game Thursday afternoon. School administrators said they decided to continue the championship game as scheduled in honor of Martin.
Also known as “Tater,” family and friends said Martin was a kind teenager who always had a smile on his face. Fellow students also said Martin had a positive impact on both younger and older students at the Flora academy.
A prayer vigil was held at Tri-County Wednesday with Martin’s football number 57 illuminated on the field.
