By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer
Livermore Falls’ players have seen more than their fair share of injuries.

LIVERMORE FALLS – Ryan Webster turned to reach for his book bag in class and felt a pop in the right side of his ribcage.

“It was like when you’re opening a new jar of salsa, you know, you hear that pop,” the Livermore Falls senior fullback said. “I thought they might have been broken at first, but there wasn’t a big bruise or a lot of swelling or anything.”

Webster went to the hospital for X-rays. They came back negative, but he believes that popping sound he heard was the cartilage separating from the bone, the result of a pounding he took the Friday night before in a loss to Boothbay. He’s been playing in pain ever since, with little separating his tender ribs from another jarring hit.

“They gave me a little spandex thing, which is no good. I got a flak jacket, one of the old school ones. I found it on the cage. It had about an inch of dust on it,” he said.

This season didn’t have enough time to collect dust before Andies were getting hurt.

Junior halfback Mark O’Shea separated his right shoulder in the season-opener at Lisbon. The shoulder popped out of the socket and tore the AC ligament, but O’Shea hasn’t left the lineup.

“We’re going to debate on surgery after the season and see what happens,” he said. “I’ve got a shoulder shock (for extra cushioning), but pretty much like (Webster’s) rib thing, it doesn’t do a whole lot.”

Junior QB Mike Nichols came empathize. He suffered an injury similar to O’Shea’s last year. This year, he’s been hampered by a broken right hand suffered before the Boothbay game. The break, which runs from the knuckle of the third finger down close to his wrist, will require surgery in the offseason. But it has healed well enough to this point that Nichols felt fine taking snaps in practice this week after playing without a cast for the first time in a little less than a month.

“The doctor said it can’t get any worse,” he said. “I’ve had the cast for three weeks and I finally just took it off.”

Ironically, Nichols thought he threw the ball a little better with the cast on.

“It took me awhile (Wednesday) to get the hang of it. I could actually move my wrist in practice, so it took me a little while to get used to it,” he said.

The backfield trio said they never considered not playing with their injuries. With a young and not very deep squad, they felt obligated to the team to grit their teeth and bear the pain.

“We have a freshman backup (at quarterback) and a freshman backup fullback, so we really didn’t feel like there was anybody to step in,” O’Shea said. “We’ve got the right mix right now.”

Doctors, parents and kids have say

Playing in pain is a fact of life in high school sports, but it’s almost a prerequisite in football. Even for the least battered player, the bumps and bruises pop up in training camp and remain for the whole season.

But Brad Bishop now finds himself in a position that no high school head coach envies – balancing his players’ desire to play and their long-term physical well-being.

“Believe me, we’re not forcing them to play. They want to play and their doctors say it’s okay for them to play,” he said. “We’re not going to do anything to put a kid in jeopardy. If any one of those three boys’ parents intervened and said they didn’t want their son to play, I’d support them 100 percent.”

“The kids just want to play,” he added. “That’s just the way they are. They’re tough kids and they’re good kids.”

Bishop said the players’ doctors and parents always have the first word on their availability to play. From there, it’s up to the coach to monitor whether players are being put in danger of further injury during action on the field or whether being hurt is hindering their performance.

Of course, coaches take extra precautions with certain injuries, like neck or knee injuries, even if a player is cleared to play by his physician. One rule of thumb is whether the injury or pain makes the player less mobile and more of a sitting duck on the field.

“I think it depends on the nature of the injury,” he said. “In their cases, they’re all able to run. They don’t have lower-body injuries. I think with leg injuries or ankle injuries you notice a bigger difference.”

Bishop acknowledged injuries change the way he coaches his team and uses players.

“We’ve spelled Ryan Webster and Mark O’Shea several times because of their injuries,” he said. “We’ve taken them out in situations on offense and defense. We’ve spread the ball around on offense to give Ryan a break.”

Pain’s mental toll

Injuries take more than a physical toll on a player. It changes their mental approach to a game, too, whether it’s how they bounce back from a tough hit or having to think about the way they tackle someone to lessen the pain inflicted into their own bodies.

Webster, O’Shea and Nichols said they try to keep the pain out of their minds but can never completely ignore it. They said in their case, it helps to have someone on your team who knows what they’re going through.

“We help each other out a lot during the game to keep each other going,” said Webster, who added that his ribs are feeling much better after icing them last weekend. “One of us takes a good hit and the other ones will be like Come on, we’ve got to get going.'”

It also helps to know that they’re injuries are getting better and the team is playing better. Webster has rushed for 370 yards and eight touchdowns in two games since hearing that pop. O’Shea has scored a touchdown in each of the last three games. More importantly, the Andies take a two-game winning streak into tonight’s game with Dirigo after dropping their first three.

“As long as you win,” Webster said, “it makes the pain feel all right after the game.”