R.J. Newton remembers it as being a "spooky" feeling, a feeling he says he'd rather not feel again.

Two weeks ago in a heated intracity game against MacArthur, Newton went in for a tackle, got a knee in the helmet, and poof, was taken off to lala land.

"I was knocked unconcious," said the Ike two-way starter. "I was out for like 15 seconds. When I came to, when I woke back up, I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't remember anything. I couldn't even remember playing in the Altus game the week before. I had no idea of what happend.

"They (doctors and trainers) kept asking me questions, trying to get me to regain my memory, remember what had happend. It wasn't until the fourth quarter that it finally all came back to me. But other than that, I felt pretty good. I didn't have a headache, I wasn't seeing double or had blurred vision."

When it comes to concussions, at least 41 systems exist to measure the severity, or grade, of the injury. Several of the systems use loss of consciousness and amnesia as the primary determinants of the severity of the concussion, but there is little agreement among professionals about which is the best system. Newton has no idea where his concussion graded out, and he really didn't care. To Newton, there was no grade, regardless of system, that could have bothered more than knowing he wasn't going to be able to play.

For the soft-spoken senior, that meant missing last week's District 6A-3 opener against Yukon. The closest he could get was on the sidelines in street clothes.

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