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Derek Shortz was attempting a comeback from a similar injury in the second game of last season. He likely will miss this season as well.
By JAMAL THALJI, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 27, 2002
TRINITY -- Injury has struck Mitchell linebacker/fullback Derek Shortz for a second year in a row, which means the Mustangs likely have lost one of their toughest offensive and defensive cogs this season.
Shortz sustained a broken radius in his left arm during a practice Aug. 19, when he took a helmet shot to the area.
It is the same arm Shortz broke last year in the second game of the season against Pasco, an injury that cost him his junior season.
The original diagnosis on Shortz was that he could miss 4-to-8 weeks of his senior season.
But Monday, after speaking to Shortz, Mitchell coach Scott Schmitz said it is likely he is out for the year.
"It did not look good when I talked to him on (Monday)," the coach said. "It looks like he's out for the year. He has the biggest dang cast on him that I've ever seen. It's just a monster cast. He goes back in three, four weeks to X-ray it (again).
"But I would say that it's not looking very good."
Shortz said he is trying to come to grips with the injury.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," Shortz said. "I'm really depressed. I really worked hard to get back."
Schmitz said replacing Shortz will be difficult for a team entering its second varsity season.
Shortz, a 5-foot-9, 185-pound senior, was expected to bring toughness and grit to a defense that lacked those qualities last season.
Schmitz hoped to have Shortz, one of his hardest hitters, on the field throughout the season.
Shortz would have anchored the Mustangs' 5-2 defense at strongside linebacker, a position Schmitz expects to be first to the ball and to lead the team in tackles. Shortz also would have shared time with 5-10, 180-pound sophomore Ricky Moise at fullback.
Now those plans, laid out since the spring, are in disarray.
"It's a huge loss," Schmitz said. "It's a big loss. We lose a quality fullback and a quality linebacker, and we lose a little bit of toughness, because Derek is a tough kid.
"As tough a break as it is, and it's a tougher break for Derek, we just have to go on and find some people to fill in. That's what it's all about. You've got to go on and find some kids to pick up the slack."
The Mustangs return 24 seniors and 13 juniors to a team that went 1-9 last season, defeating Gulf 20-28 in the fourth week of the season to earn the program's first varsity win. When Mitchell opened its doors in 2000 the school started football at the junior varsity level.
Moise, who has impressed coaches this fall with his running ability, will step in full-time at fullback in the team's Wing-T offense.
Replacing Shortz at linebacker will be more difficult. Fighting for that position are two seniors: 5-10, 190-pound Ken Smith and 5-10, 170-pound Rob Metz.
Schmitz hoped this year's defense would be dramatically better than last season, especially against the run. Whoever replaces Shortz must set the tone for the defense.
"They are battling for that position and both are working hard for it," Schmitz said. "One of those two kids or both of them are going to have to pick it up and do the job."
Shortz was eager to return soon before the latest diagnosis, hoping to come back when his arm was 75-percent healed. But Schmitz said other factors will determine when, or if, Shortz returns to the field.
"I told him we'll wait and see what happens," the coach said. "I told him you're a young kid with your whole future ahead of you. Football is important, but it's not as important as the rest of your life, and it's not worth an injury that will cause him problems for a long time."