While travelling to Batesville, Arkansas for their second matches of the year, a tire blowout on the highway led to a terrifying experience for the men and women's soccer teams, as well as two cancelled games. After stopping for lunch, the soccer program continued northbound on highway 167 when the front left tire unexpectedly blew out, sending the Tri-City charter bus into the grass median and then into the oncoming traffic side of the highway.

               "I woke up and the bus was shaking really bad from side to side and saw us go into the grass. The bus was leaning so far to the left we were sure it was going to flip," said sophomore community health major Steven Bush. "It was one of those moments where you just grab onto your seat and the person next to you and hope for the best."

               A movie was playing to help pass the time and most of the players didn't realize anything was wrong until the situation got dangerous. "I felt the bus jerk and when I looked up we were veering into the median. A truck had to swerve out of the way when we skid into oncoming traffic," said goalkeeper and sophomore community health major Tori Calhoun.

               The near-accident occurred at approximately 12:45pm. Driver, Dennis Copple, 70, steered the bus to safety on the shoulder of the other side of the highway. Copple has been driving professionally for 50 years and has been with Tri City charter for 8 years. This is his third year driving LSUS' athletes.

               "This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me," said Copple. "We carry a spare tire and protocol is to safe-park the rig and to look out for the safety of the passengers in the vehicle."

               The incident left many players shaken but very thankful. The general consensus was that they were all very happy to have had Copple as their driver.

               "Dennis really saved us. When it happened I tried to stay calm but panic took over. I ended up just holding onto my Hand of God and bracing myself for the bus to tip, but his driving really prevented the worst from happening," said sophomore business major Samuel Weinberg.

               "The tire was brand new so it's pretty crazy that this happened. I'm glad we're all safe. The Lord was watching over us. It was all his doing," Copple insisted.

The Pilots and Lady Pilots were on their way to Lyon College where the men were set to play Spring Hill College at 3pm and the women would face Lyon College at 5pm. Upon further inspection of the bus, it was discovered that the airlines to the brakes of the vehicle had been broken during the incident.

"It was a wild ride and I hope that I am never in that situation again, but if I had to be I would want Dennis to be the driver of the bus. He did a great job of keeping all four wheels on the ground and brought it to a safe stop. God is good, He was definitely watching over us and Dennis today," said assistant coach Mark Cantrell.

The teams were shuttled by school bus to the local ASU-Beebe where they were generously taken in to await a replacement bus. Both teams were forced to cancel their matches and at this point nothing has been rescheduled.

Story Courtesy of Shelley Davenport of the LSUS School Newspaper-The Almagest