An ailing teenager trying to bow out of football practice early was ordered back to the gridiron — and his death, a lawyer claims.
Nicholas Dellaventura, 15, eventually collapsed at the end of a preseason practice in Staten Island last year and died hours later of heat stroke, as his body temperature surged to 110 degrees, his family claims.
A star freshman on St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School’s junior varsity team, Nicholas was aiming for a bigger role with the squad when he joined the July 23 drills at the school.
But the 5-foot-8, 210-pound offensive lineman struggled in the mid-80s heat and high humidity, and at one point paused, his family claims.
But instead of letting him take off a few plays or leave practice, coach Salvatore Ferraioli — who resigned a month later when he was arrested in the federal takedown of a Gambino gambling ring — shouted something that prompted the determined athlete to get back on the field, attorney Ralph DeSimone told The Post.
“These kids were winded . . . Nicholas had pulled himself off the field because he couldn’t do it anymore, and he was told to go back and finish the practice,” DeSimone said.
The new allegation that a coach may have pushed Nicholas to his breaking point comes just weeks after the Dellaventura family filed a $10 million lawsuit against the Archdiocese of New York, the school, the athletic director, the principal and the football coaches.
Ferraioli’s lawyer denied the coach put Nicholas in danger.
“Absolutely not true,” said attorney Gerald McMahon.
The lawyer went on to allege that Nicholas’ mom, Maria, knew the boy was battling an infection from a cut he suffered on vacation.
“She sent him to practice knowing he had a fever,” McMahon told The Post.
The boy, who DeSimone insists had a “clean bill of health,” collapsed at the end of the early-evening session while taking a knee with his teammates, listening to their coaches.
The school didn’t move fast enough to help Nicholas, didn’t have a trainer on site, and didn’t talk to the kids about hydration or heat stroke, the suit charges.
“They did not call 911 right away. They did not administer any type of proper first aid to him when he was in distress. There’s elementary things they could have done here that anyone with any kind of rudimentary training would have known,” DeSimone said. “If you treat the situation in the first 10 minutes, it’s 100 percent survivable.”
The school followed state-mandated protocols, athletic director Greg Manos told The Post shortly after Nicholas’ death. He said practices don’t start until 5 p.m. when it’s cooler, with only light equipment used.
Assistant football coach Sean Cusick said at the time, “There was no way that workout could have done that to [Nicholas]. He was running basic drills.”
The principal, the Rev. Michael Reilly, said, “I pray for the kid and his family every day.”