Brandon Lee Baker, 21, who graduated from Princeton High in 2007, and Matthew Brandon Stewart, a 17-year-old senior, were killed in the wreck on Fellowship Church Road. They were riding in a Saturn with driver Nathan Pearson and passenger Cody McConnell, both 17 and seniors at Princeton.

Pearson’s Saturn crossed the centerline on Fellowship Church Road and collided head-on with a Jeep driven by Rosa Pendergraf Wilson of Kenly, said Trooper M.D. Williams of the Highway Patrol. Baker was only a short distance from his home on Fellowship Church Road, according to the trooper’s report. Wilson, 80, was flown to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, where she remained Thursday morning. The hospital would not release her condition.

Pearson was driving 10 mph over the 55 speed limit, Williams said. He and McConnell were in stable condition Thursday morning at WakeMed in Raleigh, said Terri Sessoms, spokesman for the Johnston County schools.

In a statement released by the school system, Princeton High Principal Kirk Denning said the three Princeton students were members of the school’s football team and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Baker also played football at Princeton, the principal said.

“They will all be missed,” Denning said of Stewart and Baker. “We are thinking about their families and the students who are recovering. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families.”

In the same statement, football coach Russell Williamson said Stewart, also known as “Big Country,” was a wonderful athlete. “We don’t know how to replace him,” he said. “His joy, hard work and great attitude were evident on and off the field. Our hearts and prayers are with his family and the families of Brandon Baker, Cody McConnell and Nathan Pearson.”

About 150 parents and students came to the high school to get support from the American Red Cross after the accident Wednesday evening, Sessoms said. The school was on a normal schedule Thursday, but all extracurricular activities had been canceled.

“As students and faculty feel the need, they are able to meet with grief counselors that are set up throughout the building,” Sessoms said. “Also, any student who feels the need to go home because of this incident, if they have a note from their parent, they are going to be allowed to do that. It will be an excused absence.”