Rash of football injuries occur at Bucksport-Hampden game

At most high school football games, an ambulance crew parks near the field, sits on call for a few hours, then drives away at the end of the game without having to put their training to use.

That’s the way coaches like it.

At Hampden Academy on Friday night, that’s not what happened: Three ambulance crews from three different companies spent the evening shuttling a Bucksport player, a Hampden player, and a veteran referee to the hospital.

“I’ve been around football a long time, and I haven’t seen anything that emotional,” Hampden coach Mike Corneil said on Monday. “All three injuries required immediate medical attention.

The most serious of the injuries was sustained by Hampden senior Matt Jackson, who starts at split end and free safety.

Jackson broke both bones in his lower left leg in the second quarter when he took a handoff on a reverse and was tackled by Bucksport players.

Also injured in the game were Bucksport sophomore linebacker and running back Jeff Childress, who received a blow to the chest as a member of the Golden Bucks’ kickoff coverage unit, and head linesman Mike Johnson, who received eight stitches above his upper lip after a Hampden defender collided with him on an extra point conversion try.

Jackson underwent an operation on his leg and was no longer a patient at Eastern Maine Medical Center on Monday.

Corneil likened the injury to the one sustained by former NFL quarterback Joe Theisman, in that its severity was immediately obvious.

“I wanted to get an ambulance out there as quick as I could,” said Corneil. “I hadn’t even gone onto the field and I was already trying to do that, because it looked messy.”

Corneil said Jackson’s injury devastated his team.

“If you knew Matt [you’d understand],” Corneil said. “He’s just one of those people who works hard, is a great student, and is well-liked by everyone on the team. I’ve never seen a team get so emotionally upset. Even Bucksport was [upset].”

Childress’ injury became frightening when he coughed up some blood, Bucksport coach Joel Sankey said, but his player ended up staying at the hospital for only about 15 minutes and was back practicing on Monday.

The rash of injuries bothered Sankey.

“Those are things in coaching that are the worst part of coaching,” Sankey said. “It was a nightmare.”

Sankey was quick to credit the ambulance crews that responded as situations unfolded.

“The people that were there and dealt with the injuries dealt with them very professionally and did a great job,” Sankey said.

Both coaches said all three injuries were “flukes,” and couldn’t be prevented.

Johnson said his injury certainly qualifies, though he initially thought he was getting a break when Bucksport lined up for a two-point conversion try.

As the head linesman, he’s responsible for chasing down the ball after extra point kicks, and Bucksport kicker Trevor LaLonde has one of the strongest legs in the state.

“I remember thinking, ‘I just hope they run this one in instead of kicking it,'” Johnson said.

When the Bucksport quarterback rolled to his side, Johnson carefully watched the things he’s been trained to watch. Among those: Johnson looked for ineligible receivers, and checked to make sure the conversion pass wasn’t thrown from beyond the line of scrimmage.

But when a Hampden defender missed in his effort to snuff the attempt, he careened into Johnson.

“He was trying to break up the pass, and he wasn’t successful,” Johnson said. “But he was successful in breaking up the head linesman.

Johnson considers himself lucky: If the player’s facemask had contacted his face a few inches higher or lower, he figures he may have broken his nose or lost some teeth.

Despite the injury, Johnson plans to be back on the field this week, working the Foxcroft Academy-Orono game on Friday night.

It’s just a good thing the game isn’t for a few days, he said.