Season ending injuries cost the football team the playoffs at Saturday night’s game against College of the Desert losing 49-39 in Palm Desert.
Head coach John Featherstone said this will be the second time in a span of 12 years that the football team does not make it to playoffs.
“This has just been one of those years where we’ve had a whole slew of injuries,” Featherstone said. “We’ve had at least a dozen really good defensive players not be able to play this year because of injures and at least another half a dozen offensive guys.”
Player Andre Clark, line backer revealed that the team lost one of their starting corners Christopher Davis, to an ankle injury and another to a thigh injury during the first quarter of the game against COD.
The team was down 21-7 in the first quarter. “We came back and scored twice in the third quarter, “ Featherstone said.
“Our lack of depth was probably the biggest challenge that we’ve had to overcome,” Clark said.
Many of the players have had to play entire games this season. Offensive-line player Lennox Brown played the entire game for his second time against COD. Other players like Nicholas King, quarterback, who typically alternates with Jesse Scroggins, quarterback, had to fill in for the entire game.
“We are a well conditioned team but we just have so many injuries n both sides of the ball,” Featherstone said. “We haven’t been able to rotate and give guys a breather.”
In spite of the extreme physical stain that the players are under, Brown describes the sixty minute plays as “tiring but fulfilling,” stating that we (the players) are warriors you know, that’s what we do.”
The warrior’s last two games will be home games against Citrus College and the number one team in the nation Mt. San Antonio College.