2 Former Star New Jersey High School Athletes Killed In Highway Crash
MAHWAH, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- State police say two former star high school athletes were killed in a crash on an interstate highway in northern New Jersey.
The bodies of Samuel Cali and Leonidas Vagias were found around 9:15 a.m. Monday by a state transportation department worker in the woods near I-287 southbound in Mahwah. Authorities believe the crash occurred overnight and that the 19-year-old Towaco residents were ejected from their vehicle.
Vagias and Cali graduated from Don Bosco Prep last year. Vagias was a kicker/punter with the University of Rhode Island football team -- although he didn't play in any games this past season -- while Cali was a wrestler at Rutgers University.
"Both young men represented the heart and soul of Don Bosco Prep- men of character and joy, kindness and goodness. They were gifted student athletes, whose great promise was yet unrealized. Each had a passion for making the community around them better, and did so with love and happiness. While the loss of any life is tragic, the loss of young lives is even more so. Our community has been changed because of their presence in it, and will be changed because of their absence from it," John Stanczak, Don Bosco principal, said in a statement.
Both schools issued statements mourning their deaths and citing them as hard workers.
"We are extremely saddened by the unexpected passing of Sam Cali," Patrick Hobbs, Rutgers director of intercollegiate athletics, said. "This terrible tragedy will be deeply felt by the Rutgers community. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friends and classmates of both Sam and Leo Vagias at this very difficult time."
"The entire URI athletics family is deeply saddened by this tragic event that took a young man's life way too early," Thorr Bjorn, director of athletics at the University of Rhode Island, said.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
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