In case you missed it….

A scary moment in the final minutes of La Canada High School’s 21-17 nonleague loss to Alhambra last Friday fortunately turned for the better.

Joe Hughes, a 5-foot-9, 260- pound senior lineman, suffered a concussion after a hard tackle. He did not attend school Monday but is expected to be OK.

La Canada High School principal Damon Dragos confirmed Hughes did suffer a concussion but did not know the grade of its severity.

Because there wasn’t an ambulance on site, the game was delayed 30 minutes while paramedics arrived to transport Hughes to a hospital.

Thom Simmons, the CIF-Southern Section spokesman, said the only thing the section requires of the host school is to have current physical examination paperwork on file.

“Having an ambulance on site is a school-district issue,” Simmons said. “What happens on their property is their responsibility.”

School districts who require an ambulance on site, like many in Orange County, will delay the start of the game if there is none present.

La Canada, however, does follow its guideline of having a doctor on site for its football games.

There have been a few times when I’ve gone to cover a game in Orange County and the referees would not allow the game to start until an ambulance arrived. Now, that’s a school-district rule.

I can’t imagine what the parents of Hughes were going through during that moment as his son lay motionless on the field, the moment intensifying more because of the long day for an ambulance to arrive.

Fortunately Hughes will be OK.

But that got me thinking, should schools be required to have an ambulance present at football games like many schools in Orange County?