Our worst fear was not realized until after the game Friday night. When the games finish, the kids usually come up to the stands to talk with the parents, I always find this a bit weird because we are still separated from them and we can't hug them or touch them and they are all sweaty and usually still breathing hard and loaded up with testosterone and whatever gets one pumped up to do what they do on the field. It wasn't until we talked to him face to face that he mentioned he had hurt his shoulder in the first quarter. It was his left shoulder, he tackled the nose guard in front of him sideways and he said he fell awkwardly and felt a stabbing sensation up high in the shoulder. We asked concerned of course, what had the coach and trainer said and as expected, he said "I didn't tell them, what for? We don't have a back up center and I could still use my right arm." I hated that logic in the moment because he needs to put his health above the team, but I understand how much of a team player he is and he doesn't want to disappoint those that rely on him.
This last interaction made the rest of the games outcome irrelevant to me. The game was in Llano, which we didn't even know where it was on the map. Wife said it is off Hwy 71, I assumed I knew the direction to head, up towards the lakes past Lakeway, so right around 5:00pm we get in rush hour traffic, it was so annoying, getting past the crowd around Akins High School as we left our neighborhood and then driving through Bowie High School, both school have thousands of kids letting out around 5:00pm and it is a mess. Wife waited until I was almost all the way to Bee Caves and then says is this a short cut to Bastrop? "What the fuck do you mean?" I yelled in a panic. "Isn't Llano past Bastrop?" she says as she is holding the Google map. We didn't know where it was, but why would she wait until that point almost an hour of driving through bullshit in Austin to say I am headed in the wrong direction. I took her phone looked at the map and just called her a donkey, we were headed in the right direction, but if we weren't, she really should have said something when she typed the stupid city in the map thing.
The drive itself was lovely, once we got out of the city, Llano itself is a typical small Texas town, I liked the energy outside the game, it was homecoming, so all the young girls had their mums on and everyone seemed in good spirits. We bought some overpriced snacks and sat with our Crockett fans in the visitor side. I wish I could say the game was a better score than it was, but I can say they can get better. Their starting QB was back from the concussion of the first game, he is rusty passing, he seemed to do a much better job last year connecting with his receivers. Hopefully, he stays healthy and they start getting more cohesive. They had another good drive, much like in the last two games. When they come together and focus, they can drive and score, there just seem to be too many mistakes along the way.
We could tell Mijo didn't seem his normal self, he usually dominates and runs around in the middle with all the big linemen, but he seemed quieter, I figured the opponent was maybe stronger or faster than him, although he never really beat him to the quarterback. After we found out he was hurt, it made sense that he didn't seem himself. We spent Saturday quietly at home on the sofa, while he iced his shoulder on and off all day as we watched the second Lord of the Rings movie. The trainer seems to think it is just a bruise. I think so too, he can move it all the way around, it just hurts to extend all the way and hold it. Hopefully, he takes it easy during practice this week and he can play at normal capacity by Friday.
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