ATHENS, TX : Trinity Valley Community College football players killed in head-on collision on Monday, October, 9th 2017

The Trinity Valley football family is in mourning following the deaths of two players on Monday on their way back from home.

“When they called Tyler Spillman’s dad, he said he knew they had practice this morning and team meetings,” Trinity Valley Cardinals coach Brad Smiley said. “That is how they knew that they had played for us. DPS drove over here, and I didn’t have the other kid’s name yet since everything was burned so badly. Nothing was recognizable.”

Freshmen Tyler Spillman and Bryce Cook were coming back to Athens around midnight from the Houston area when they hit an 18-wheeler.

“I was going to tell everyone at 2 p.m. with the blessings of the families,” Smiley said. “I was just waiting to hear from the Spillmans. I have talked with Mrs. Cook and was waiting to hear from Mr. Spillman.”

According to the Freestone County Times, the wreck happened around 4 a.m. on Farm-to-Market Road 488 in the Fairfield area.

“It is true and they were both killed in a car accident,” Smiley said. “They were driving back around midnight, and we had a team meeting at about 9 (a.m.) and practice at 10:45 (a.m.). I don’t know why they chose to leave at midnight. They drifted across the lane and had a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler.”

Smiley said last week the players were allowed to go home since they had an open date on the schedule.

He said nothing was made official until Texas Department of Public Safety officials had contacted him around 10:30 a.m. Monday asking about the players.

“Nothing was official until Tyler’s dad made it up there about 11:30 (a.m.),” Smiley said. DPS “told them and then I gave them the cellphone number for Mrs. Cook, and they drove down and talked to her personally.”

For the year, Spillman had five tackles and 1.5 sacks as a defensive lineman. Cook had five tackles, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and one pass broken up.

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Trinity Valley Community College football players killed in head-on collision