Ten years old at the time, Collins flipped over backward and slammed the back of his head into the ground.
He started to walk off the field woozy, but returned to complete the game in South Providence, his father Matt Collins said.
Making his way to the family car after the game last November, Patrick started to vomit and continued throwing up the rest of the day.
Matt Collins thought Patrick had caught a stomach flu on an early morning flight the family had taken that day from a Florida vacation
But when the father called the football coach, the coach said: "Oh my God, he's got a concussion. Get him to the hospital."
A CAT scan taken at the hospital showed Patrick's brain had swelled from the force of the blow and he had a second-degree concussion.
Patrick slept about 20 hours a day for the next four days, his father said.
He was out of school for 10 days with dizziness and headaches. When he returned to classes for half-days, he was unable to focus or read.
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It took about a month for his mind to clear, his father said. When he went out for baseball that spring - four months later - he was still unable to run in a straight line.
"It looked like he was failing a sobriety test," Matt Collins said of his son's attempt to run the bases.
Patrick, now 11, has recovered and plays on a travel basketball team. He has no lingering problems, his father said, but doctors will not allow him to play football again.
Another concussion could lead to more serious issues, his father said.
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Matt Collins said he feels fortunate that the injury was not worse, but also a little guilty that he did not immediately connect his son's fall with the vomiting that day.
"I thought it was a stomach bug. That is where my head was at," he said, explaining that his son never lost consciousness.
Matt Collins said if anything positive can come out of his son's experience, he would like other parents to know the warning signs for a concussion.
Dr. Brian Kelly, associate chief of the emergency department at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, said warning signs can include headache, confusion, dizziness, lack of balance, vomiting and short term memory loss.
Patrick Collins did not remember the play he got hurt on, which is common in cases of concussions.
Kelly said an athlete who gets hit in the head should be taken out of the game and evaluated.
A parent, coach or trainer should ask the athlete the same question over and over again to see how they respond, he said.
A person does not have to be knocked unconscious to have a concussion, he said.
The national Center for Disease Control offers a fact sheet for parents and a kit for coaches for responding to concussions. The information can be found at cdc.gov/ncipe/tbi/coaches_tool_kit.htm.
The center says that 400,000 people are taken to hospital emergency rooms each year with concussions, most of them from car crashes and sports.
Kelly said he also sees a fair amount of concussions from bicycle and skate board falls.
Some organizations contend that sports concussions are on the rise, but others say the truth may be that concussions are being diagnosed properly now, whereas they were sometimes overlooked in the past.
Dr. Lyle Micheli, director of sport medicine at Children's Hospital in Boston, falls into the latter category.
"I think the answer is everyone is much more aware of it. It is the hot topic right now," he said.
In the past, he said, a football player would get knocked dizzy and the coach would joke that "he got his bell rung" when the injury was actually a concussion.
He said a player with a concussion should be treated immediately and not return to play until the symptoms have completely gone away.
Returning to play too early makes a player more vulnerable to another concussion and several concussions can lead to serious problems, he said.
The player must also be monitored for weeks to see if there are any signs of mood swings or depression, he said.
Dan Poisson, a physical therapist and supervisor at Rebound Sports Medicine in Taunton, said he believes part of the problem is that children who spend years playing video games suddenly go out for the high school football team without getting the proper training in youth football.
"Their bodies are not used to the rigors of playing," he said.
Football players need strong neck muscles and have to be taught not to lead with their head when tackling, he said.
He said a book written by former New England Patriot Ted Johnson is shedding a lot of light on concussions in sports. Johnson contends that his depression and personal problems have been brought on by a series of concussions he suffered and played with in football.
But, it is not just football players who get concussions.
Kevin Smith, the girl's soccer coach at Mansfield High School, said two of his players suffered concussions this season and two others got them the year before.
He said players are bigger and more physical now than in the past, but the concussions he has witnessed did not come from the contact itself. He said they came from players falling backward and bumping the back of their head on the ground.
Soccer players often tussle for a ball in the air and sometimes their heads collide. But, when a player falls backward they are largely defenseless.
Smith said the back of the head hitting the ground is what causes the concussion because the brain is whiplashed against the skull. He said the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association believes wearing a mouth piece can help prevent concussions.
He said his rule of thumb is he does not allow a player with a head injury to return to play until seven days after the headaches stop. If a player visits a doctor, the player must have a note from the doctor clearing them to play, he said.
Doctors said the important thing for parents, players and coaches to understand is that any blow to the head should not be taken lightly.
"The bottom line is you have to take these injuries seriously," Micheli said.
JIM HAND can be reached at 508-236-0399 or at jhand@thesunchronicle.com.
