The Ballenas Whalers senior football team lost a tough game to the Windsor Dukes last week but that wasn’t the only thing that was lost before the final whistle.
It was a close battle, with the Dukes winning 33-20 in a game that saw Ballenas within a touchdown of a tie.
Already without starting running back Matt Price, who went down with a knee injury two weeks ago, the Whalers suffered a few more injuries as starting quarterback Garrin McDonnell went down with an ankle injury, and starting offensive and defensive lineman Steve Martin suffered a knee injury. One more injury took place during practice this week, as defensive starter Sam Paquette suffered a broken wrist, putting him out of action as well.
“It’s been a bad week in terms of injuries,” head coach Dan Smith said. “Being a part of the Whaler football program for the last 15 years, I haven’t seen a roster suffer this much from injuries at one time. We’re missing five seniors with long-term injuries right now and that’s a big blow to our team. But these kids aren’t getting down on themselves, in fact they’re all doing the best that they can to step up and fill those holes that we’re missing right now.”
On the positive side, senior Sebastian Howard is close to coming back from a knee injury. He is close but most likely won’t be back in time for the Whalers game against the Carson Graham Eagles at home this Saturday, 2 p.m. kickoff at Ballenas Secondary School.
