ESPN RISE

SEATTLE -- A charter bus carrying the Bellevue (Wa.) High School football team Friday to a playoff game at the Tacoma Dome overturned in a four-vehicle collision on Interstate 5 south of Seattle, injuring eight people, the Washington State Patrol said.

Bellevue is ranked No. 44 on ESPN RISE's Fab 50 list.

State Patrol Trooper Cliff Pratt said seven players on the bus and one person from a car received minor injuries and were taken to three hospitals. The worst injury was a minor concussion to one player, he said.

The state patrol said the players may have avoided more serious injuries because they were already wearing football pants, which include hip, thigh and knee pads.

Pratt said an unidentified vehicle lost a ladder on the freeway about eight miles south of Seattle, causing several vehicles to swerve out of the way and slam on the brakes.

The bus, with 38 people on board, collided with a semi-truck and two cars, Pratt said. It overturned, but players and coaches were able to evacuate through emergency exits and windows, he said.

The bus was one of two carrying players to the dome. Another bus, with the younger junior varsity and freshman players, already had reached the Tacoma Dome safely when the accident happened.

The 12-0 Wolverines were headed to play the 9-3 Capital Cougars of Olympia in the state Class 3A football semifinals at the Tacoma Dome. The game was rescheduled for Monday night.

An assistant coach told the Seattle Times that the team would evaluate the players at Saturday's practice and see if anyone would miss the semifinal or be game-time decisions.

Bellevue assistant football coach Pat Jones told Seattle radio station KOMO that the bus hit the semi-truck. The impact sent the bus up onto a hillside next to the freeway, where it overturned.

"It was real surreal," Jones told KOMO Radio. "The kids kind of kept their cool. Everybody looks like they're going to be OK. We have a couple of kids going to the hospital as a precaution."

Jones, according to the Times, was sitting in the front seat with head coach Butch Goncharoff, when he saw the scene unfold before him. The impact of the crash sent him through the broken front windows and onto the grass. Goncharoff landed on top of him.

"The firefighters on site said there's a few people that shouldn't have walked away from this, and I think I was one of them," Jones told the Times. "Butch and I may not sit in the front seat of buses any more."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.