WAVERLY – When Wavery football coach Chris Crabtree got the call on Aug. 5, he was in disbelief.
He was informed that one of his players had been in a car crash, and the news got even worse when he found out it was fatal.
Senior-to-be Drezden Bolin-Hitchens, 18, was involved in a two-car crash on Route 23. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Bolin-Hitchens, who attended school in the Waverly district when he was younger, attended and played football for Paint Valley for the last three years before transferring back to Waverly to play his senior season this year for the Tigers.
“It’s the last thing you would ever expect to happen, and you never expect to get a call like that,” Crabtree said. “We have been working hard all summer, as a team, and Drez was working super hard, and he was going to be a factor on both sides of the ball, offense and defense. He had a lot of close friends on the team. It’s just tragic and devastating. When something like this happens, your main focus is to come together.”
When something like this happens, it affects each person differently. Crabtree said the Tigers did not practice the next day before resuming practice on Thursday.
“We brought everybody in on Wednesday – we did not practice – and just tried to grieve together and get it out and let everybody know that as a team and as a family, we are here for each other,” Crabtree said. “We practiced today (Thursday) and talked about how we wanted to honor Drez, and the things that he loves, and he loved football. We wanted to play it by ear and see how the kids felt, but once we got out there, moving around doing things together as a group, it helped. We know there are going to be tougher days ahead of us, but It was a good step moving forward, as a team and as a family.”
Bolin-Hitchens’ brother, Trevon, is on the Waverly coaching staff.
Crabtree said Bolin-Hitchens was a great teammate, and his sudden loss will leave a long-lasting impact on those closest to him.
“There were some guys on the team that he was really close to,” Crabtree said. “There was a good chance that he might have had company, as he often picked up people and took them to practice. Everyone is taking it hard, and some harder than others, and we are paying attention to those guys and making sure we give them time to make sure they need to do what they need to do.”
Football teams from around the area have sent their condolences and plan to honor Bolin-Hitchens in their own way.
Bolin-Hitchens had a passion for his trade in HVAC and was set to return for his senior year at Pike CTC.
The Waverly football team will honor Bolin-Hitchens by wearing his initials, DBH, on their helmets.
“This is just a tragic event, and it’s hard to understand why it happened,” Crabtree said.
Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or via email at twilson@gannett.com for comments or story tips. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @twil2323.
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Waverly football team mourning the sudden passing of Drez Bolin-Hitchens
Reporting by Tom Wilson, Chillicothe Gazette / Chillicothe Gazette
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