Rockland QB Weiss expected to miss MCI game with injury

Andrew Weiss, a three-time All-LTC football quarterback from Rockland, is expected to miss at least this Friday’s game against Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield as he recovers from a shoulder injury suffered during the Tigers’ Class C season opener at Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln.

Weiss injured his throwing shoulder during a kickoff return early in the third quarter of Rockland’s 22-12 loss to the Lynx at Curry Field last Friday night. The senior quarterback and strong safety was blocking as his brother Sam Weiss returned the kickoff.

“It was kind of a freak injury,” said Rockland coach Woody Moore, also the local school district’s health coordinator. “It wasn’t a case of there being significant contact or a blow to the shoulder, but as he reached out his shoulder popped out.”

Weiss’s shoulder quickly popped back into its socket, but that marked the end of his evening on the field.

Weiss was scheduled to meet with the team trainer Tuesday afternoon to discuss his condition.

“He’s a very motivated kid and he’s very resilient,” said Moore. “So we’ll take it day by day and see how he responds to rehab. I definitely don’t think he’ll be a go this week at quarterback.”

Sophomore Dylan Meklin replaced Weiss against MA and passed for 240 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions as he attempted to rally the Tigers from a 22-0 deficit.

“He’s the real deal,” said Moore of Meklin, who saw limited varsity football duty last season but was a pitcher on Rockland’s baseball team as a freshman. “He didn’t get a lot of time last year, but he got a lot of time during preseason and is getting a lot of reps in practice.

“He stepped right in after Andrew got hurt, and I thought he did a great job.”

Weiss has passed for more than 1,200 yards during each of his first three seasons as Rockland’s quarterback while accumulating 3,981 career yards through the air.

As a freshman, he set LTC single-season records for passing yardage (1,507) and touchdown passes (16), and the following year he passed for 1,257 yards while increasing his single-season touchdown pass record to 17.

Last fall Weiss completed 69 of 153 passes for 1,217 yards with nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and also rushed for 872 yards in surpassing 2,100 career yards on the ground.

Coach Weiss wins at Westbrook

Former Rockland coach Daryle Weiss – the uncle of Tigers quarterback Andrew Weiss – got off to a good start in his new job, guiding Westbrook to a 34-6 victory at Portland in its Western Maine Class A season opener Friday night.

The win matched Westbrook’s total for the 2006 season, when the Blue Blazes finished 1-7.

Weiss had coached at Rockland for the last six seasons, leading the Tigers to winning records each of the last four years.

Westbrook faces a tougher task Friday night in its home opener against Deering of Portland, which christened its new FieldTurf home field with a 47-26 victory over Windham in Week 1.