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FOXBORO - An 18-year-old who'd just graduated from Foxboro High School was killed and a young man seriously injured early Saturday when the car they were in smashed into a large tree on Cocasset Street.

The victim was identified by friends as Jacklyn K. Thomas, a former Foxboro High cheerleader who was driving the vehicle. She was pronounced dead at Caritas-Norwood Hospital in Norwood around 2 a.m., according to police.

The passenger in the car, whose identity had not been released by police late Saturday night, was also taken to Norwood, then transported to a Boston hospital. Firefighters said both victims had severe head injuries.

The crash took place around 12:40 a.m. when Thomas's car skidded off the right side of the road, knocked down a fence and slammed into a large tree just past 159 Cocasset St.

Upon arriving at the accident scene, police officers pulled Thomas from the car, according to Fire Capt. David Healy. An eyewitness said Thomas was resuscitated by firefighters before she was taken to Norwood, where she died. Police were notified of her death at 2:10 a.m. It took firefighters about 20 minutes to extricate the trapped male passenger from the car using the Jaws of Life. Rescuers called for a medical helicopter, but due to the weather none were flying.

The car "had significant front-end damage," Healy said. The force of the crash pulled down a tree, and debris from the vehicle was still scattered around the crash scene Saturday evening.

Thomas, of 17 Cross St., was the daughter of Michelle Lucas and Kevin Thomas, according to her graduation biography. Her stepfather is Foxboro firefighter Robert Lucas.

Thomas was planning to attend the Catherine Hinds Institute of Esthetics in Woburn and hoped to become a laser hair removal technician.

She received a Silver Key award for sculpture and had worked part time at the Pond Home in Wrentham, the Doolittle Home in Foxboro, Mass Premier Courts in Foxboro, and Exotic Tans.

Tearful friends and family gathered at the scene of the accident Saturday to console one another and remember Thomas. Many of them were teenagers who came in small groups, and some carried bouquets of flowers.

By dusk there were dozens of bouquets next to the tree where the crash took place, and many mourners had signed a large white memorial cross bearing Thomas's name that had been placed in the ground there.

"We used to call her 'Princess,'" recalled Joan Newcomb, 21, who said she was Thomas's cousin. "She was a very girly girl," who loved going to tanning salons and getting her nails done, Newcomb said.

Jacklyn was always "extremely happy," she added.

A Foxboro High student who came to pay his respects said he didn't know Thomas well, but added: "You didn't need to know her - she would just talk to you. She didn't care who you where." Although police did not say what caused the crash, the owner of the home next to the scene, Glen Hedderig, said speed is a recurring problem on Cocasset Street, where the posted limit is 25 miles per hour.

"It's a speed factory here," Hedderig said.

Police have been making efforts to prevent speeding on the road, he said, pointing to a nearby electronic sign that displays the speed of passing cars.

The accident remains under investigation by Foxboro Police Officers Joseph McDonald and Kerry Apgar. Sgt. Allan Haskell was called in to reconstruct the accident on Saturday.

Sharon firefighters assisted Foxboro personnel at the accident scene, while a Norfolk fire engine and ambulance covered the station.

Saturday's accident was the second car crash to take the life of a young woman in the area in recent months. In May, a 17-year-old Attleboro High School junior, Rebeckha Whitefield, was killed when the vehicle she was in hit a tree on Oakhill Avenue in Attleboro.