Bus carrying junior high football team crashes near Pittsburgh. 21 people are taken to hospitals

Emergency personnel work at the site of a crash of a bus carrying members of the Aliquippa Junior High School football team in Economy Bourough, Pa., on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Jessica Riley/KDKA-TV News via AP)

ECONOMY BOROUGH, Pa. — A bus carrying a junior high football team to a game crashed Saturday north of Pittsburgh, sending 21 of the 28 people on board to the hospital, officials said.

Twenty-five Aliquippa Junior High students and three adults were headed to a game in nearby Gibsonia. The crash occurred in Economy Borough, about 20 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Economy Borough Police Chief Michael O’Brien said he didn’t have information on the medical status of those taken to hospitals.

O’Brien said he understood the bus turned on its side during the crash but came back upright as the students were evacuating the vehicle.

The police chief said the crash occurred in a tough spot in the road. “It’s on a bad bend,” O’Brien said. “It’s being investigated now to determine what happened.”

A Facebook page for the Aliquippa Junior High football team said each player was being evaluated and asked for “a thought or prayer for each player or coach that was traveling this morning.”