Bangor loses 3rd hoop player> Broken collarbone sidelines Wilcox with St. Pierre, Guerette

BANGOR – The injury bug continues to run rampant through the Bangor High School sporting community as a third two-sport athlete went down with a major one.

Mike Wilcox joined football and basketball teammates Jason St. Pierre and Jeff Guerette on the “broken” list after fracturing his collarbone in Friday night’s loss to Lawrence of Fairfield in the Pine Tree Conference football championship game.

Wilcox was the fifth key starter lost in the last seven weeks.

The 5-foot-11 cornerback was injured during a Lawrence draw play in the second quarter after hitting the ground hard at the end of the run.

“I wasn’t positive it was broken, but I felt it against the shoulder. I was pretty sure it was my collarbone. I heard it crack,” Wilcox said.

Despite the pain, Wilcox stayed in for a couple more plays until teammate Keith Dorr convinced him to come out rather than risk an even more serious injury.

“The doctors say it’ll be about four to six weeks to heal,” said Wilcox. “They called it a butterfly fracture, and I guess it’s displaced a bit. There’s a piece of bone loose in there poking up almost through the skin.”

Wilcox, who is wearing a sling to keep his right arm immobilized, said surgery won’t be necessary and that the bone fragment should dissolve on its own.

The blow was doubly cruel for Bangor. It cost the football team one of the best cornerbacks in the league (five interceptions) and the basketball team a potential starting guard.

Combined with the loss of Guerette (compound fracture, right leg) and St. Pierre (hairline fracture, right leg), boys basketball coach Roger Reed is out a starting center and two guards for as little as two weeks (St. Pierre) to as long as two months (Guerette).

“I see the kids at school and Jeff’s on crutches, Saint’s on crutches … and Mike isn’t even in school,” said Reed. “All of a sudden, I go from having six seniors to rely on to three. I guess we’ll find out about our depth quicker than I wanted.”