Two Mainland (N.J.) football players laid to rest

Funerals were held Thursday for two of the four Mainland Regional High School football players killed in a one-vehicle accident last weekend on the Garden State Parkway.

A Mass was said for Edgar Bozzi, 16, in the early afternoon at St. Augustine Church in Ocean City. Later, Dean Khoury, 15, was memorialized in a Mass at St. Gianna Beretta Molla Church in Northfield.

"There was just a tremendous outpouring at both funerals," Mainland athletic director Mike Gately said. "It's just exhausting to go to one, but to go from one to the other was really, really tough."

Services for the other two boys are scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

The viewing for Nick Conner, 16, will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at St. Gianna Beretta Molla. A service will follow.

For Casey Brenner, 17, the viewing will be from 8:30 to noon Saturday at St. Gianna Beretta Molla, with a Mass to follow.

Four other teenagers were injured in the accident. The crash occurred late Saturday morning as the boys' crowded SUV, headed south, went over a crest in the road and encountered heavy traffic backed up behind the ramp at Exit 38A, near Atlantic City, state police said.

The driver, Brenner, of Northfield, apparently tried to steer clear of the traffic but lost control of the vehicle, police said. The SUV rolled over several times, crossing the highway's right lane, the shoulder, and the exit lane before stopping, police added.