As a member of the sports media, I’m used to a chilly reception at hometown parks.People are naturally distrusting of a man who carries a tape recorder. And I suppose we do look a little out-of-place on the sidelines with a notepad.
Still, it was a surprise when head coach Jimmy Wright looked at me prior to Friday night’s game against Winterboro and coolly cautioned me not to question him.
“Don’t ever call me again and ask me if (my team is) healthy,” he said. “I think you jinxed me.”
It’s been more than 24 hours since that conversation, and I’m almost positive he was joking. He had to have been, right?
Then again, maybe we at The Desk are something of a jinx. I’ve covered three games thus far this season – only one of them went to the home team (Lincoln over Etowah). Heather has also visited three different stadiums this season, and has yet to see the home team finish on top.
Of course, Wright wasn’t talking about wins and losses. He’s referring to two key injuries that have knocked his Wolves’ season for a loop. After having the aforementioned conversation Tuesday — “We’re expecting everyone to be healthy at game time” — Wright went out to practice and immediately lost one of his key cogs, senior quarterback Cameron Shaw, to a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
“He’s our quarterback, our punter, a linebacker, our extra-point kicker and a leader for us,” Wright said.
The very next day, sophomore Andrew Scott — Shaw’s backup — went down with a knee injury of his own, slightly less serious but still enough to knock him out for (they estimated) possibly up to 4 weeks.
Injuries have followed me all season. B.B. Comer opened its season without all-everything lineman Chris Daugherty because of a knee injury he suffered during the summer. And on opening night — even in the midst of an eye-opening 33-6 win — Lincoln suffered multiple setbacks on the injury front, including a shoulder injury to T.J. Hoyt that kept the senior out of Friday night’s win over Cleburne County.
So maybe I am a jinx. In fact, if you see me on the sidelines covering your favorite high school, you may have to have a medicine man dance around me or douse me in chicken blood or something.
Or, maybe we can just wait a week or two and see if things even out. My clothes would probably appreciate the latter.
LOCAL WARRIOR ON THE ROAD: A Childersburg native is starting over in 2008, as Childersburg’s C.J. Estelle — who originally walked on at Middle Tennessee State — is currently a freshman cornerback at East Central Community College in Decatur, Miss.
The Warriors opened their season with a 47-31 defeat to Coahoma in Clarksdale.
Estelle spent only one season (2007) in Childersburg, after moving in from Georgia. He played a significant role on the Tigers’ football and basketball teams, and even had a brief cameo on Chad Slaten’s state championship baseball squad.
The ECCC Warriors are led by first-year head coach Steve Cheatham.
ONE MORE LOCAL, FOR THE RECORD: Maybe the biggest story coming out of the first two weeks of the college football season has been the East Carolina Pirates, who have defeated — in successive weeks — ranked opponents in Virginia Tech and West Virginia.
And that carries with it a local connection: Pell City’s Andrew Farr is listed on ECU’s roster as a second-team guard.
Farr, who spent a season at Hargrave Military after high school, is currently a sophomore at East Carolina. He was moved from tackle to guard prior to last season, something he said at the time he was thrilled about.
“This spring they wanted me to play guard,” he said. “I’ve never played guard before. During the spring I was a little caught in the shuffle.
“I told Coach this is where I belong, and I told him I like playing guard better than tackle.”
The entire college football world has become caught up in the Pirates’ story this fall – ECU came from behind to beat the Hokies in Week 1, then hammered the Mountaineers in Week 2.
They’ll travel to Birmingham to face the UAB Blazers — and another Pell City alum, Kevin Sanders — on Nov. 22.
