JERSEY SHORE, Pa. — Payton from Jersey Shore says Max Engle was more of a brother than his best friend.
“I actually moved into his neighborhood when I was four years old; I've known him since I was four,” Payton Semar, Jersey Shore Football Player.
They've been playing football together since they were in the first grade.
While they were going into their senior season, Payton never thought the football game on September 8th would be their last one together.
“That was my best friend laying on the field and then had to be carried off in a stretcher, and I really didn't know what to think,” he said.
After collapsing on the field, the coroner says Engle passed away from a traumatic brain injury.
A harsh reality Payton and his teammates are still coming to terms with.
“We just didn't think it would be a huge deal. We thought he would be okay after a couple days, and then we found out the news later that night that he was getting the surgery on his brain, and that was rough. Then it all went really good for a few days, and then it just went all downhill,” explained Semar.
John was looking forward to spending his senior football season side-by-side with Max and Payton.
Just like they did all throughout high school.
“Football, I'm sure, for most teams, is like a brotherhood, and when we lost Max, it was like losing a genuine brother to us,” said John Dammer, Jersey Shore Football Player.
Seeing the turnout at Engle's memorial service, both agree Max made the Jersey Shore community feel like a family.
“He's just a great kid, one of the nicest people I've ever known, he had the best heart, and his family is so caring. They're like parents to me as well,” Semar mentioned.
Hundreds of people flocked to Bald Birds Brewing Company. Wearing Max's number four proudly to support his biological and football family.
“It feels pretty nice knowing we got the support of everybody; I mean, I wish we didn't have to find out this way, but it is nice having everybody around him, around the team, and around the family,” Semar mentioned.
“And the only way to not even move on from this, not even get over it but to live with it is together,” Dammer added.
The players add that for the rest of the season, they will continue to carry out Engle's jersey and helmet. Not only to honor him but to remind everyone that he will forever be a player on the Jersey Shore team.
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