By KATE MCGOWEN
Sports Editor
 

"I don't remember being hit," Bazirgan said, "but the impact from when my head hit the ground made me black out for about a minute and a half. I came to my senses while still on the field."

While worried spectators and upset football players watched anxiously, a United ambulance arrived and the paramedics began to take care of Bazirgan. "They backboarded him and then put him in the ambulance. We had no idea what was going on," Curtis said. Bazirgan was taken to Central Maine Medical Center.

One player remarked that the reaction of the trainer and the coaches worried the players. "Thoughts ran through my mind that he might be paralyzed and might never play again. It really made me think about what can happen in every play. I think that sometimes we think we are invincible. This really brought me back down to earth," he said.

"A lot of the players stood on the sidelines crying, hoping that he was all right," sophomore Jason Coulie said.

In order to keep the player focused on the second half of the game, the coaches reported to the players that Bazirgan was all right. "The coaches kept it to themselves until they found out he was okay," Coulie said.

"They told us that he was doing fine, just crap to keep our heads on the game. I think that we not only had to win the game because it was an important title for us, but we also wanted to win it for Baz," a freshman player said.

At the hospital, x-rays of Bazirgan's neck and CT scans revealed that the injury was a concussion, and not a neck injury as was previously thought. Bazirgan retained mobility in his extremities and was back at the sidelines to watch the second half of the game.

"We were down at the end of the game, and it really hurt to sit on the sidelines and watch. I really wanted to be out there to do something about it," Bazirgan said.

Bazirgan will not be playing this Saturday in the game against Hamilton in accordance with his doctor's orders. Chris Snow '98 will fill in the quarterback position.