News

Thankfully, a majority of area teams won last Friday and move into week two of the playoffs. Of course, we knew any head to head matchups would eliminate one local team but we still have plenty of teams to cheer on. Again, this week a game between Jackson and McKinley will automatically reduce our locals by one.

I noticed something during our week 7 game, Hoover at McKinley, that I saw again Friday night as Hoover took on Lake. Those that pay attention will remember very early in the season Hoover’s starting QB, and possibly best athlete on the team, Zac Braucher, injured his knee and was ruled out for the season. Quite a blow to a young team needing senior leadership and someone to run the offense. The last couple years Zac excelled for the Vikings as a wide receiver and defensive back. With 3-year starting QB Carson Dyrlund graduating, Braucher was tabbed to replace him. Accepting the challenge, Zac decided not to play baseball last spring to concentrate on improving his QB skills. This was not a light decision – Zac Braucher is an excellent baseball player and no doubt would have helped an already very good NC baseball squad.

Having made that sacrifice and then being injured before the season really got going is a real shame. Again, I will say, injury is the worst part of high school sports. Kids just want to play. What now? Can Zac get healthy enough to play baseball this spring and salvage part of his senior year athletically? Let’s hope so. Missing a season in baseball is probably tougher than missing a year in other sports but if anyone can do it, it is Zac Braucher. That’s the unfortunate part of the story. The absolutely, wonderful part is the way Zac has accepted his misfortune and decided to be a positive instead of sulking about his injury and not being able to play. If you watched along the Hoover sideline during a game, you would have seen a young man with a number 10 jersey on, now minus the crutches, talking to and cheering on his teammates. He spent a lot of time encouraging his replacement at QB, John Collins. Zac helped his team get better and win games even though he hadn’t played one play since his injury.

I can only hope other players that have things happen they don’t like will take notice and decide to help the team instead of dragging them down. I will take Zac Braucher on my team any day, whether he is able to play or not! And one other thing, whether it is baseball this spring at Hoover, or some sport in college, I believe we have not seen the last of Zac playing the games he loves.