Tigercats plagued with injuries in St. John

When the Tigercats went on the road Friday night, they expected a tough match up against St. John-Endicott on the gridiron. But what the team did not expect was to have multiple athletes suffer injuries and limit the team’s effectiveness against the Eagles. The Eagles won the game 48-8 over the Tigercats.

Head coach Justin Ziebell said the team started strong, marching down the field on the first two possessions and limiting the Eagles rushing game. But after a pick six in the first quarter, the Tigercats slowly watched the game creep away from them.

The first injury of the night and the most detrimental injury for the team was a thumb injury sustained by quarterback Joey Guske, who made his return to the gridiron last Friday after being sidelined for three weeks due to a collarbone injury.

Ziebell explained Guske injured his left hand and was able to play for the remainder of the game, as he could still use his dominant hand for pass plays. The injury did prevent the Tigercats from running their I formation offense, and the early game change proved to be an obstacle the team could not overcome.

After an 8-0 score in favor of the Eagles at the end of the first quarter, the Tigercats began making minor adjustments. The Tigercats allowed two Eagle touchdowns in the second quarter, but when the team went to the locker room at halftime, Ziebell got more unwanted news.

Running back and leading defensive tackler for the team, Bo Rice, told Ziebell about shoulder pain. The team later learned Rice had suffered an AC joint injury, and it kept him sidelined the remainder of the night.

Ziebell said losing Rice was damaging to the team, especially on defense, but began making adjustments to try to remedy the situation. On the offensive side, Ziebell explained, Stephen Erickson is continuing to battle a knee injury, which has prevented him from running laterally, a move which is typically his strength on the gridiron.

While the team attempted to work in athletes on both sides of the ball, Ziebell said many of the athletes have not had significant varsity playing time and the Tigercats could not play to their strengths. The Eagles were able to rack up rushing yards against the Tigercats, with the Eagles leading running back Wade West rushing for 256 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries.

The Tigercats put up their only points of the game in the fourth quarter on a 50-yard pass play from Guske to Graham BeDell. Tom VanCamp ran in the extra points and gave the Tigercats eight points for the game, ending the night 48-8.

Due to four starting athletes traveling to the National FFA Convention, the game against Liberty Christian this Friday is a forfeit. Ziebell said the decision was made prior to the start of the season, due to the knowledge players would be missing and because Liberty Christian is one of the strongest teams in the league.

The Friday night match up is being played as a junior varsity game, and Ziebell said this provides the team with a much-needed opportunity to have younger athletes gain valuable playing time. Three freshmen, four juniors and one senior are slated to start the game on Friday.

The Tigercats play Liberty Christian at 7 p.m. in LaCrosse.