All five of the Poplar Bluff soccer players who were in a car accident Thursday afternoon were back on the field for a scrimmage Tuesday at Whiteley Park. Pictured are, from left, J.P. McCoy, Jay Raulston, Jeremy Hubbard, Billy Powell and Dustin Calvert. (Rob Tate/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By ROB TATE ~ DAR Sports Writer

Call it luck. Call it a miracle. Call it a gift of God. Call it what whatever you want.

Five days ago on Thursday, five Poplar Bluff soccer players were making their way to practice when junior goalkeeper Billy Powell's 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix hit some gravel on the right side of Black River Industrial Road and flipped over.

Tuesday afternoon, all five players hit the field for the Maroon vs. White Mules soccer scrimmage like nothing ever happened. Powell and junior Jay Raulston each started in net. Sophomores Jeremy Hubbard, Dustin Calvart and J.P. McCoy each played and showed no signs of injury.

When asked how they felt to be able to play on Tuesday, the soccer players were for the most part at a loss for words.

"It's amazing, just amazing to be out here playing already," Powell said.

Calvert and Raulston both felt that "God was watching over them" while Hubbard and McCoy just felt "lucky to be alive."

For the most part, none of them remember the accident happening and maybe that's a good a thing.

All McCoy remembers is walking to the car, squirting some water out the window at one point and waking up in a helicopter.

McCoy probably suffered the worst of the accident. But if you look at him today, you would never know that his arm was pinned underneath the car.

It was first reported in the Daily American Republic on Friday that Powell was airlifted to a hospital in Memphis. But it was actually McCoy who was sent out as he suffered a concussion and now has just has a minor scratch on his arm from being pinned.

Powell remembers going down the dirt road and then waking up with glass all over his face and looking over to the passenger seat and saw Raulston was bleeding.

Calvert tried dialing 911 but remembers not being able to get through. They managed to get help and even some teammates saw them on the way to practice. The ambulance arrived within minutes.

Each had their own individual bumps, bruises, a couple of them had concussions, scraps and scratches. One odd ailment they each had too, with the exception of Powell, was a bout with poison ivy from laying out in the grass after the car flipped.

When they all realized what happened, they had thoughts about how coach might be mad at them. But they mostly thought about McCoy who was being transported.

They were also very thankful for the quick response as the players said about four or five ambulances showed up as well as a handful of police officers and two helicopters.

First-year Mules head coach, Derek Reasons, is grateful that everyone is alive after the scary incident. But he never had a second thought about his players' safety commuting two and from practice.

"That was the last thing on my mind," Reasons said. "The last thing on my mind was how they got to practice, but now obviously I try to think about it a little more and talking to them as far as wearing their seat belts and driving slower."

Last Thursday will not go down as a favorite memory for Reasons.

"We were getting ready for practice, we were at the field and one of (the players) came and had saw what happened," Reasons said. "So they came and got me on the soccer field and said 'Coach, we gotta go'. So I hopped in his truck and we jetted up there and literally when I got there they were lifting the car up off of J.P.'s arm. After that it was pretty much chaotic."

Reasons elected to continue practice that afternoon to try to keep his players' minds focused and to not think about their teammates too much. He thought that they needed to keep that focus, otherwise they all might of just gone home and worried the whole time. Before practice, all the players got together to think about their fallen teammates.

"All the players came together and said a prayer for them," assistant coach Eddie Dortch said.

Added Reasons: "They are extremely lucky that no one was seriously injured."

With all the players healthy, it's basically all back to business for the Mules as they kick off the season Thursday at the Notre Dame Tournament in Cape Girardeau.

Poplar Bluff will take on host Notre Dame at 6:30 p.m. Thursday then will play the winner/loser of Jackson-Marion (Ill.) game Friday depending on what happens in each game. Eight teams are involved in the tournament.