Healthy quarterbacks not easy to come by

Four of the area’s top high school football teams have dealt with injuries to their starting quarterbacks, with mixed degrees of severity.

Liberty Christian Academy senior Mike Rocco, a Louisville recruit who separated his left wrist and broke his left forearm in the Bulldogs’ first scrimmage, returned to practice Tuesday and will be in action in some capacity for Friday night’s homecoming game against Riverdale Baptist.

Amherst senior Anthony Rose sprained his left (throwing) shoulder in a 41-0 shutout of GW-Danville on Sept. 18 and aggravated it when he took a first-quarter hit that gave him a stinger in Friday’s 49-20 victory over Liberty. Backup Kirby Anderson shined in his place, completing six of nine passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns, starting with a 72-yard screen pass play to Rose.

William Campbell quarterback Brandon “BeBe” Adams strained his Achilles tendon early in Friday’s 14-8 victory over Magna Vista and may miss the next few games for the Generals. In his place, Devante Easley completed six of eight passes for 170 yards and two second-half touchdown strikes, both to Terrence Younger.

Finally, in the freak injury category, Gretna junior Nick Miller suffered a serious right ankle sprain in a 27-21 non-district victory over Dan River on Sept. 11 when an official inadvertently stepped on it while backpedaling between plays.

Miller, who missed most of last season after dislocating his left ankle and fracturing his left tibia in the preseason, struggled with his right ankle sprain in an 18-0 win over Tunstall on Sept. 18.

“It was pretty bad,” Gretna first-year coach Kevin Saunders said. “He could barely do anything but hand off. He couldn’t run and couldn’t throw, either, because he couldn’t plant on it.”

Miller aggravated the injury in last week’s 20-14 triumph over Radford and third-string quarterback Ted Jennings filled in after Miller’s backup, sophomore Tony Miller (no relation), sprained his ankle, too.

Nick Miller should start for the Hawks (3-1) in Friday night’s Dogwood District opener against Altavista (4-0).

“He’s practiced quite a bit on it,” Saunders said. “I expect him to be ready to go.”

Rocco’s role for Friday night is still undetermined, though he may see action at safety, quarterback and special teams.

“The only thing that we’re 100 percent sure of is he’s going to punt,” LCA coach Frank Rocco said, noting Seth Good has done an admirable job in his place, leading the Bulldogs to a 3-1 start including a season-opening win over Gretna. “Throughout the course of this week, we’ll see how he handles being knocked around a little bit and being able to tackle and being able to protect himself, too. I think he’s going to be fine.

“He still has issues,” Rocco added. “He doesn’t have feeling in his outside two fingers, he doesn’t have some of the dexterity that he’s going to have to have.”

Rocco was able to take snaps in Tuesday’s practice, despite wearing a brace that covers his wrist and goes all the way up his forearm.

“We’ll see,” Frank Rocco said.

“Right now it looks like it’s all systems go, and we’ll just have to bring him along slowly.”

The Bulldogs also expect to return senior running back Desmond Rice, who severely dislocated and chipped a bone in his right thumb while planting hard on it two weeks ago in a 53-15 blowout at Blue Ridge and sat out this past week’s 57-17 rout of Covenant.

“I got a little woozy when I (first) saw it,” said Rice, who had surgery on it last week to realign his tendon and put a screw in his thumb.

Rice will practice for the first time in two weeks in full pads today and is expected to play Friday.

“He’ll have a cast on (so) he’ll have to use his left arm more than his right arm … to put the ball away, but he’s coming back,” Frank Rocco said. “That’s a 100 percent deal. He should be 100 percent other than having his cast on.”

With Mike Rocco and Rice out, LCA was relegated to starting its No. 5 safety against Covenant.

“We’ve been just holding on,” Frank Rocco said. “It’s been good for the team because, hopefully, we get back to healthy and if we put a stretch run here in the playoffs, we’re going to have a lot of guys with experience, so it’s going to pay dividends for us.”

Liberty Christian Academy senior Mike Rocco, a Louisville recruit who separated his left wrist and broke his left forearm in the Bulldogs’ first scrimmage, returned to practice Tuesday and will be in action in some capacity for Friday night’s homecoming game against Riverdale Baptist.

Amherst senior Anthony Rose sprained his left (throwing) shoulder in a 41-0 shutout of GW-Danville on Sept. 18 and aggravated it when he took a first-quarter hit that gave him a stinger in Friday’s 49-20 victory over Liberty. Backup Kirby Anderson shined in his place, completing six of nine passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns, starting with a 72-yard screen pass play to Rose.

William Campbell quarterback Brandon “BeBe” Adams strained his Achilles tendon early in Friday’s 14-8 victory over Magna Vista and may miss the next few games for the Generals. In his place, Devante Easley completed six of eight passes for 170 yards and two second-half touchdown strikes, both to Terrence Younger.

Finally, in the freak injury category, Gretna junior Nick Miller suffered a serious right ankle sprain in a 27-21 non-district victory over Dan River on Sept. 11 when an official inadvertently stepped on it while backpedaling between plays.

Miller, who missed most of last season after dislocating his left ankle and fracturing his left tibia in the preseason, struggled with his right ankle sprain in an 18-0 win over Tunstall on Sept. 18.

“It was pretty bad,” Gretna first-year coach Kevin Saunders said. “He could barely do anything but hand off. He couldn’t run and couldn’t throw, either, because he couldn’t plant on it.”

Miller aggravated the injury in last week’s 20-14 triumph over Radford and third-string quarterback Ted Jennings filled in after Miller’s backup, sophomore Tony Miller (no relation), sprained his ankle, too.

Nick Miller should start for the Hawks (3-1) in Friday night’s Dogwood District opener against Altavista (4-0).

“He’s practiced quite a bit on it,” Saunders said. “I expect him to be ready to go.”

Rocco’s role for Friday night is still undetermined, though he may see action at safety, quarterback and special teams.

“The only thing that we’re 100 percent sure of is he’s going to punt,” LCA coach Frank Rocco said, noting Seth Good has done an admirable job in his place, leading the Bulldogs to a 3-1 start including a season-opening win over Gretna. “Throughout the course of this week, we’ll see how he handles being knocked around a little bit and being able to tackle and being able to protect himself, too. I think he’s going to be fine.

“He still has issues,” Rocco added. “He doesn’t have feeling in his outside two fingers, he doesn’t have some of the dexterity that he’s going to have to have.”

Rocco was able to take snaps in Tuesday’s practice, despite wearing a brace that covers his wrist and goes all the way up his forearm.

“We’ll see,” Frank Rocco said.

“Right now it looks like it’s all systems go, and we’ll just have to bring him along slowly.”

The Bulldogs also expect to return senior running back Desmond Rice, who severely dislocated and chipped a bone in his right thumb while planting hard on it two weeks ago in a 53-15 blowout at Blue Ridge and sat out this past week’s 57-17 rout of Covenant.

“I got a little woozy when I (first) saw it,” said Rice, who had surgery on it last week to realign his tendon and put a screw in his thumb.

Rice will practice for the first time in two weeks in full pads today and is expected to play Friday.

“He’ll have a cast on (so) he’ll have to use his left arm more than his right arm … to put the ball away, but he’s coming back,” Frank Rocco said. “That’s a 100 percent deal. He should be 100 percent other than having his cast on.”

With Mike Rocco and Rice out, LCA was relegated to starting its No. 5 safety against Covenant.

“We’ve been just holding on,” Frank Rocco said. “It’s been good for the team because, hopefully, we get back to healthy and if we put a stretch run here in the playoffs, we’re going to have a lot of guys with experience, so it’s going to pay dividends for us.”