GASTONIA, N.C. — Teammates Ronald Dawkins and Quindul Tate are like brothers.
It's how the two described the relationship among players with Ramah Juco Academy in Rock Hill, which brought together student athletes across several states for a football league.
The team was headed to Fayetteville Saturday for their first game of the season when their bus crashed.
Four people were killed and 42 others were rushed to area hospitals.
"When it happened I thought it was all a dream," Ronald Dawkins said, adding that he was asleep at the time of the crash.
[ Related: 8-year-old among 4 killed in Rock Hill football team bus crash ]
Dawkins described players being thrown off the bus after the impact and hearing screams for help.
He crawled through a window.
"It's the grace of God," he said. "If it wasn't for God I wouldn’t be here right now."
[ Photos: 4 dead, 42 injured in charter bus crash ]
The Gastonia native spent Sunday afternoon at an area park surrounded by friends, family and his 2-year-old son.
Together, they celebrated his son's birthday with a football-themed party. The event was first scheduled for Saturday, but pushed back because of the team's football game.
Teammate Quindul Tate, who also survived the crash, was there too.
"I just woke up, and I was outside the bus," he said. "I don't know how I got out."
Darice Hicks, 8, Teto Hamilton, 19, Devonte Gibson, 21, and bus driver Brian Andre Kirkpatrick, 43, died in the crash, troopers said.
"It's crazy, like teammates we were just with, and then they're just gone the next day, it's crazy," Tate said.
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