Injuries lead to early end of team's football season

TYLER COUNTY - by Steve Stewart/KJAS - The Chester High School football season came to an abrupt, and unexpected end this week after seven starters on the football team suffered season ending injuries in Friday night's game against High Island.

Head Coach Tracy Franklin said he has never seen, nor heard of anything like it.

The team lost one player with broken ankle, one player with a broken leg, one player with a foot broken in three places, one player with a dislocated shoulder, one player with a broken hand, and two players suffered concussions.

The coach could not release the names of the players due to privacy concerns.

Franklin said the game against High Island was not a particularly hard hitting contest, and he said the injuries were just freak accidents.

Coach Franklin said there was no choice but to end the season, since the small 1-A school had only 20 players on the team to begin with. Chester, who was 1-3 in district play, would have played the Evadale Rebels this Friday.

To add insult to the injuries, Chester was leading the game before the injuries began, and ended up losing to High Island, 28-12.