On a day when students, faculty and administrators, as well as the community at large, should have been celebrating Slippery Rock High School football team's first-ever appearance in the state semifinals, they were instead mourning the death of a student.

Nicholas A. Daubenspeck, 16, of Harrisville, a member of the high school basketball team, was killed Friday when the pickup in which he was riding crashed.

Although Nicholas' death was the first among the student body in nearly 21 months, not so long ago the school family lost eight students in three months -- ending Feb. 8, 2002. Nicholas' death is believed to be the 14th among the students in seven years.

State police said the pickup, driven by a teammate and fellow student Joshua D. Hoover, 16, of Forestville, was traveling west on state Route 108 when it went out of control on the wet roadway at 10 a.m., about a half-mile west of Pink Road in Slippery Rock Township. The truck traveled off the south berm, hit an embankment and a utility pole, rolled and stopped after hitting a house, police said.

Nicholas, who police said wasn't wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the pickup; he was pronounced dead at the scene by Butler County Coroner William Young.