Ouch!
But does it do it justice?
Follow the scenario — you’re a senior football player, all set to dominate and have a memorable final season. You have stretched, run, lifted weights, put on pounds and mentally prepared.
Even if recruiters, reporters and Internet geeks aren’t all over you, it’s possibly the final period in which you’ll wear shoulder pads and a helmet, so it should be one of the times of your life, right?
And then along comes serious injury about the first week of the regular season, and 2009 is either greatly modified or taken away.
Ask three high-end Coloradans.
Gifted Cherry Creek quarterback Kain Colter reached for a fumble in his opener and tore his right labrum. He continues to play but is limited.
Athletic back Kenny Bell of Fairview in Week 1 broke his collarbone. He had surgery and hopes to return for the playoffs.
And ThunderRidge’s Dillon Bonnell, a pillar tackle, was working in a pass-blocking drill the second practice after his team’s first game only to have a teammate roll across his leg and dislocate his right kneecap. He, too had surgery and is done for 2009.
Long term, the three appear to be OK. Bonnell and Colter will sign in February with Stanford. Bell hasn’t lost any offers, including from Colorado’s Buffaloes.
But the initial shock of being sidelined isn’t fun. Months of work down the drain. Boredom. Frustration. Even anger.
“It took a few days for it to set in that my season was over,” Bonnell said. “I’m just trying to keep my spirits high.”
It’s easier said than done. Colter can’t combine passing with running as he did in a late-season run to the 2008 Class 5A title game. Bell, missing a Knights resurgence — they’re 5-0 — can only help lead cheers and offer encouragement. Bonnell uses crutches.
“You have to keep a positive attitude,” Bonnell said. “My parents and coaches have helped.”
Fairview coach Tom McCartney said Bell, hopeful of returning for the playoffs, “has helped coach and been great about it.”
It’s strange and without reason. Every year we have bumps, bruises, broken bones, lacerations, sprains, tears, ruptures, separations and concussions that occur to everyone from the all-stater to fourth-stringers — or they don’t.
Football is an unforgiving game, but local love for banging heads remains unconditional.
“The way I’m approaching it,” Bonnell said, “is that everything happens for a reason.”
Footnotes.
The last consonant is different, but Castle View has a player named Sergio Mendez (remember Brazil ’66?). Grandview has Sir Wesley Wright. Prairie has Leroy and Troy Warboys. And the Columbine athletic secretary isn’t so far away — Carol King. . . . Big games? In a 43-32 loss to Highlands Ranch, 5A Palmer quarterback Andrew Brown threw for 278 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed 24 times for 238 yards and two touchdowns.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
