Story by Christine Betts
As Titan Football battles upcoming playoff competitors, two starters will be missing from the gridiron. Seniors Brenner Clemons and Garrett Newsom have been on the sidelines due to injuries since the game against Blue Springs South.
Newsom, who plays outside linebacker and “a little safety”, said he has had shoulder problems for the past four years. Most recently, he said his “right shoulder is extremely loose. Whenever I hit people, it just kind of pops out and I have to pop it back in.”
Clemons, who plays both quarterback and safety, said “I have a Boxer’s fracture of my fifth metacarpal. I broke that in the second half of the game against Blue Springs South and I continued to play. I knew it was broken, so I went to the trainer and she taped it so I could keep playing.”
Following the game, Clemons said “I took my glove off and my whole hand was swollen. I went to the ER that night and I got out of there at midnight.”
After visiting the doctor, Clemons said he hopes to only be out for two weeks. Newsom said he will reevaluate in two weeks, but for now his sentence is indefinite.
“If anything, I’ll just club it up and play defense,” said Clemons.
Newsom said he doesn’t have an interest in playing beyond high school. “I’m going to concentrate on school in college because I would like to be a physician… I would really like to focus on making sure I can get into med school.”
Clemons, on the other hand, said “that’s my goal, to play at the next level. I’m just kind of seeing how everything works itself out after this season.”
“When coaches come to watch, I’m on the sideline when I could be making an impression,” said Clemons.
Whether or not they plan on playing in the future, both Clemons and Newsom said they do not enjoy watching from the sideline. “I don’t like not playing,” said Newsom.
Clemons said “It’s extremely difficult to just sit there and watch when you really want to be out there.”
While they may not enjoy watching practice instead of practicing Clemons and Newsom said they are confident that their injuries don’t have a large effect on the team performance.
“I think any time a player goes down on the team, it has a huge effect on morale and means having to put up people who are not as accustomed to the defense or the offense, but people step up and I think the team does that really well” said Newsom.
Clemons said “It feels like there is a little missing piece, but the coaches do a good job of filling that piece and putting people in their position.”
Head Coach Royce Boehm said the injuries did not affect the team at all. “It’s allowing other players to step up and get on the field on friday night. We don’t rely on one or two people, we rely on each other.”
