Football Star

McIntosh County Rivalry Alumni Football Game 2011

Checotah 12 - Eufaula 6

It has been since the Fall of 2003 since my twin brother Will has "suited up". When given the chance thanks to some company who organizes these games and after lots of encouragement by some close friends & fellow teammates, he agreed. They held several Sunday afternoon practices (without pads), preparing themselves and trying to help their bodies remember how it felt to play again.

Note: Maddie had never seen William play, so this was EXTRA exciting for her!

Brett Reynolds (#54, 2004 Alumni) was the coach. Our friend Rod Thierry (#12) showed he still had skills on the field. There was a big fan club at the game to support Will & the Wildcat Alumni team. Several of our friends were there to cheer on the players- most all from out of town & just happended to be in that weekend but made a special effort to be there to relive high school game days.



Will (sporting Brett's #54 this evening instead of his traditional #55) played defense for all 4 quarters....at least until 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter when he injured his left hand. Luckily, one of the local Checotah docs was on call that night, took my dad's call, and asked them to just come by his house. Dr. Payne (yep, that's really his name) worked his magic and fixed both of Will's dislocated fingers (pinky & ring fingers). Luckily, only my parents & Maddie were there to witness that. I was entertaining friends at our house. Really, I was playing hostess and bartender at Sharpe Acres while my only sibling was being put back together. I was ready to pour the patient a beer when he got home!

Saturday morning, as we were loading the "loopy" patient in the car so Maddie could take him to Tulsa Bone & Joint for an x-ray, I asked if playing the night before was worth the injury. Will replied, "Totally."  The docs determined that William has two broken bones in his hand, above the knuckles. Unfortunately, they were not straight across breaks, so surgery is necessary to ensure he regains full hand movement. 

Will's surgery is tomorrow (Nov. 1st) to fix the bones in his left hand. Please keep him in your thoughts! Hope he gets back to normal SOON. Sure was great to see him play ball again, but I'm thinking the one alumni game was enough....