A Tennessee Tech student and former Golden Eagle football player was killed and three other young men were injured in a wreck on Dodson Branch Road on Saturday night.  Zachary Lewis Poston, 18, of Cookeville was killed, and the three injured were all passengers in the same vehicle.  Two of the injured are 17-year-old juveniles, and the other is 20-year-old Avery J. Jordan. Two of the three were airlifted from the crash scene Saturday, but authorities Monday were unable to provide information about their conditions.  None of the four were wearing seatbelts at the time, according to Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Jody Looper, the investigating officer.

The crash happened when Poston lost control as he attempted to negotiate a sharp curve on Highway 135, Dodson Branch Road.  “The vehicle struck an embankment and started to roll,” Looper said.  It ejected Poston in the process, the trooper reported.  The vehicle also struck three other unoccupied vehicles in the parking lot of an apartment complex at the bottom of the hill, authorities said.  “The vehicle rolled into a parking lot and came to rest on its wheels,” Looper said.

Poston had been a defensive back on Cookeville High School’s football team and played for Tech part of the current season. He was studying biology there.  He is the son of Stan Lamberson and Kelly Poston, according to TTU’s football media guide.  According to the state highway patrol report, the use of safety restraints could have made a difference in the outcome of the crash.

Funeral Services for Zach Poston, age 18, of Cookeville will be held at 1pm Saturday, December 3, 2016 from the Cookeville High School Gymnasium With Pastor Sterl Paramore officiating.
The family will receive friends on Thursday from 12pm until 8pm, on Friday from 10am until 8pm and again on Saturday from 10am until he leaves in procession to Cookeville High School.
Those attending the services will be asked to assemble at the high school and allow the procession to the school be limited to immediate family. All are welcome to follow him in procession to the cemetery from the school.