Pottsgrove students mourn classmates killed in crash

Grieving teens flocked to Pottsgrove High School yesterday - during their Thanksgiving vacation - to console one another after two of their friends were killed in a car crash Monday night.

"They're in shock. They need to be around each other," said Pottsgrove School District Superintendent Bradley Landis as students, many red-eyed, flowed into the Montgomery County school.

The Thanksgiving holiday had barely begun when a 2005 Honda SUV carrying six students - five from the high school - went out of control and crashed into another car on Route 724 near Sanatoga Road in East Coventry Township, Chester County, according to police.

Killed were Andrew Case, 17, of Pottstown, and Michael Cantamaglia, 16, of Barto, both juniors. The boys were well-liked athletes with many friends at school, according to students. Case was a starter on the lacrosse team, and Cantamaglia played soccer.

The accident occurred about 8:45 p.m. when the Honda, driven by a student whose name was not released, veered from the westbound lane to the opposite side of the road, went up an embankment, and rolled over, striking a Nissan sedan, police said.

Two of the teens were thrown from the car, and Case and Cantamaglia were pronounced dead at the scene.

"It's tragic when you have to go to the hospital at 4 in the morning to meet with parents under these circumstances," said East Coventry Township Police Chief John T. Theobald.

He described the stretch of Route 724 as a two-lane straightaway and said authorities were working to determine the cause of the crash.

Injured were Pottsgrove students Dylan Kunrath, 17, of Pottstown; Kyle Hilegas, 15, of Pottstown; and the driver. The other teen was Garrett Sterner, 16, of Telford. All were taken to Reading Hospital.

Latasha Jones, 22, of Pottstown, the driver of the Nissan, was treated at the hospital and released, said a spokeswoman. Kunrath was in good condition; there was no information on the others.

Along with previously scheduled parent-teacher conferences, Pottsgrove had counselors working yesterday to help students cope. For those expecting a fun break from school, it was a horrible start to their vacation.

Taylor Vaugh, 18, awoke to a text message that said "Rest in peace Andrew Case," so she quickly dressed and came to the school to mourn the boy she had teasingly said she was going to marry someday.

"He was the cutest boy ever. He had a baby face," Vaugh said, starting to cry.

Though she was a senior and Case a junior, they sat next to each other at lunch, where she would rest her head on his shoulder when tired.

"He was the sweetest boy ever," she said.

Tim Kohnken, 18, who played lacrosse with Case, stayed up all night after seeing on Facebook that some students had been killed but not knowing the names. At 5:30 a.m. he called a friend, who broke the bad news.

"He was a real good lacrosse player. He had a lot of talent," said Kohnken, who was shaken and bleary-eyed.

The lacrosse season this spring is going to be "rough," since Case was a starting attack player, he said. Even tougher, though, is losing a friend.

"This has hit me hard. I never went through a death before," Kohnken said.

In a video of Case posted on a memorial Facebook page, the teen known as "AC4" says he played lacrosse for the Pottstown Vipers and the Philadelphia Youth Lacrosse All-Stars.

Sitting in front of a couple of computers and appearing a bit self-conscious, he also talks about college plans and says he likes Syracuse, Duke, and Virginia, but Johns Hopkins has his favorite lacrosse team.

For some students, it took a while for the tragedy to sink in.

When Sarah Lockhead, 17, heard that two students had died, "I didn't think it was real. I thought it was some kind of sick joke," she said.

But soon, she realized that boys she had known since elementary school were really gone.

"They were such good kids. They were never really mean to anyone. Everyone liked them," she said.

Coming to school was "depressing, really depressing. Everyone is really sad, and there's a lot of crying," she said.

At one point, Case's father showed up to talk about his son and thank everyone for the support, but was overcome.

"He was a mess, and everyone broke down," said Lockhead, whose father is a building aide and knew the boys.

Her mother, Susan, said the teachers were as upset as the students, and she worried about her husband, who works closely with the students.

If there was a lesson to be learned from the accident, she said, it's that "it can happen to anybody."

The school plans to provide counseling again today and will make arrangements to help students when they return on Monday, said Landis.

Asked what else he wanted to say about the boys, Landis simply said, "They'll be missed."