"We talked about that as a team," said St. Joseph's of Hammonton football player Corey Litton, who attended Friday's ceremony with several of his teammates, all of whom wore red-and-white football jerseys. "What if it was us? What if we lost our best friends? What if we were in the situation that team is in?"
Mainland's players keep putting on their kelly green football jerseys - those colorful symbols of their youthful vitality - and lining up outside churches. They keep hugging fellow mourners and listening to heartfelt eulogies of the four teammates who were killed in an automobile accident last Saturday on the Garden State Parkway.
Nick Conner, 16, was laid to rest on a warm, humid Friday after a viewing and memorial service at St. Gianna Beretta Molina parish church on Rt. 9 in Northfield.
Edgar Bozzi, 17, and Dean Khoury, 15, were buried on Thursday. The funeral for Casey Brenner, 17, was postponed from Saturday to next week because of the approach of Hurricane Irene.
"It's horrible," said Greg Castello, a 2010 Mainland graduate. "They all were great kids. They all brought a smile to everyone's face. You couldn't say a bad word about any of them."
The boys were individuals, cherished members of their own families, unique in their way.
Casey Brenner was the kid who loved country music and the beach, who worked hard to develop his fitness for his senior season, who was known by the nickname, "CheddaBob."
Edgar Bozzi was the speedy runner and top student. He was known for his ever-present smile, in school, in sports and at his summer job at Gillian's Water Park in Ocean City.
Nick Conner was the thoughtful boy who liked to express himself in lyrics and poems. He made a million friends at his job at a pizza shop on the boardwalk in Ocean City.
