STOCKTON, Mo. — A former Carthage High School football player nearly drowned this weekend on Stockton lake. But thanks to sonar and a man on a boat, he didn’t.

Diamond resident Tony Fast was enjoying some family time on his boat at Stockton lake this past weekend. Fast hadn’t had his boat out in nearly two years and decided to head to Stockton lake. It was his son’s idea once they got there to head to about a three story high outcrop called chicken rock.

Tony Fast, said, “Happened to be in the right place at the right time and just took action.”

When they go there, Fast saw a young man whose first name happens to be Furious, jump off the cliff and landed the wrong way.

“I knew when he hit, I was like, he hit hard. I was watching and he just didn’t come up and I was like oh no. I mean, when he hit it was just obvious that he was going to be hurting the next day, but I didn’t realize he was knocked unconscious immediately. But I wasn’t surprised.”

That’s when he and several others, including some off duty nurses and first responders sprung into action.

“So I just edged over there and flipped my GPS to sonar cause I though he’s gonna be down there and luckily it was only 10-12 feet deep so when I got over there it was obvious on my sonar and I found him so I just backed my boat up to where I knew he would be there right over the back of my boat and then there were several people diving by then “

Rebecca Laney, Furious’s Mom, said, “They’re all angels walking on earth as far as we’re concerned.”

Once the boat got to the shore, Furious was eventually airlifted to a Springfield hospital. Through Facebook, Laney was able to contact most of the people who played a role in her son’s rescue.

“I believe that God is an amazing God that we serve and he had every single person in place exactly where they were supposed to be at that moment in time Saturday.

As it turns out, Fast and Furious had never met each other even though they only live about 10 miles apart.

But once he recovers and leaves the hospital, Fast will eventually meet Furious, but their next boat ride together will be much less eventful.