Friends, family shocked by death of Holliston athlete

A gloomy sky loomed above Holliston High School Saturday. (Aram Boghosian / Globe Photo)

By Sarah Gantz and Ryan Kost, Globe Correspondents

HOLLISTON -- On sheet after sheet of white paper on the walls of the entrance to the high school, students shared memories and expressed shock and a sense of loss. The outpouring came after a popular Holliston football player died suddenly Friday night after being hit in the chest during a scrimmage.

Joseph Larracey (Courtesy Photo)

Family and friends were stunned by the death of Joseph “Joey” Larracey, 16, a junior at the school. Grief counselors met with students and the football team. Cars lined the street where Larracey lived, and people hugged in his parents' driveway, talking quietly amongst themselves.

There Larracey’s uncle, Dean Cerrati, sat on the tailgate of a pickup truck. He said Larracey was a good kid. “He was always laughing, always smiling, respectful,” he said. “Everybody says that, but he really was.”

Larracey collapsed at a football scrimmage at Apponequet Regional High School Friday after he had been hit earlier in the game, according to a statement released by the Holliston schools.

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A Buckingham Browne & Nichols football player had emergency surgery Friday night and is in intensive care at Boston Medical Center after collapsing in his team's huddle during a preseason scrimmage. BB&N was scrimmaging at Wayland High School Friday when the junior player became wobbly and collapsed, according to the school's Director of Communications Joe Clifford. "There was no obvious cause and effect,'' said Clifford. The player was taken via helicopter to Boston Medical Center where surgery was performed into the "early morning hours," according to Clifford.