(ROCKVALE, TN) Rockvale Football Coach Rick Rice is asking for prayers for his 25-year old son Austin who was involved in a serious auto crash around 3:00 o'clock last Tuesday morning in Lewis County.
Rice is listed in critical condition at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He underwent surgery on Thursday (10/3/2019) to reduce pressure to his brain.
The school's FaceBook page requests specific prayer for decreased swelling in Austin's brain.
WGNS Prime Time Sports received word that Coach Rice plans to lead the Rockets in Friday night's region 3-6A game at Coffee County, as long as his son's condition does not change for the worse.
Coach Rice has asked for prayers for his son.
WGNS broadcast the Rocket's first home game a few weeks ago from their beautiful new campus on highway 99. The Rutherford County Board of Education hired Rick Rice at the first of the year to be the first head football coach at the new high school. He served for 21-years in that position at Lewis County.
Last week, the coach sparked controversy when he lead the team in prayers as they hosted Oakland. As you recall, that brought a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. During last weekend's Coaches' Corner on WGNS, it was learned that Rice apologized and said it would not happen again. Instead, local businessman Peter Demos led a prayer before the game.
