No thumbs up has meant more to the Pioneers this season than the one Alex van Vuuren flashed Friday night. 

The van Vuuren family, and all of Pioneer faithful, were breathing sighs of relief by midnight as the junior Pioneer quarterback seems to have escaped serious injury. Van Vuuren was removed from the homecoming game in the third quarter on a stretcher, but walked out of the ER shortly after the conclusion of the game.

Fans fell into a hush at Nunley Stadium when van Vuuren took a nasty hit and stayed down near midfield for several minutes. As medical staff and EMTs tended to van Vuuren, coach Matt Turner and his staff were able to check in with him and got the word he had full movement of his extremities on the field, but precaution was paramount.

As he was lifted up and rolled out, van Vuuren threw his hand in the air, giving fans who packed in for homecoming a welcome signal of his status. 

“Everybody wanted to take precaution. Alex was wiggling his fingers and toes and has a good grip,” said Turner about the scene on the field. “I think he’s going to be good, I’m hoping. Deep in my heart, I feel like he’s going to be OK. 

“We have to thank everybody on the field – trainer Tim (McIntosh) always does a good job, our EMTs were right there on the scene and we wanted to say a special thanks to Coffee County their people for coming and helping out as well.”

Turner relayed van Vuuren’s final words before he was taken off the field and transferred by ambulance to the hospital.

“He told his mom, ‘I love you and I’m good,’” said Turner after the game.

A family member confirmed to the Standard late Friday that van Vuuren had indeed been released from the ER and was up and walking.

While van Vuuren has finished each of the last three games at quarterback, Friday was technically his first start leading the offense as he was behind center on the Pioneers’ first play. He engineered a scoring drive right out the gate, including connecting on a 44-yard deep ball to former starting QB Nate Elrod, as the Pioneers took a 3-0 lead.

Van Vuuren finished Friday’s game with 109 yards on 6-of-11 passing and added 10 rushing yards on six carries. For the year, van Vuuren has 575 total yards and three touchdowns. He also had a key pass deflection right before halftime from his safety position.

There was no word on when he will be able to rejoin the Pioneers and resume football activities. Warren County is on a bye next week and will play against Friday, Oct. 15 at Shelbyville.