The Mendon football team’s undefeated regular season was marred by an injury to starting quarterback Jordan Medich. The junior, in his first year guiding the Hornets offense, was hit near the sideline Saturday on a keeper in the fourth quarter and landed hard on his left shoulder.
Jordan Medich rushes against Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart Saturday.
(Photo by Patricia Samson)
Following the 39-6 victory over Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart at Alma College, Medich visited Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo and X-rays confirmed a severely broken left collarbone. Mendon, ranked No. 2 in Division 8 and waiting to see what team it will take on to open the playoffs next weekend, will attempt to make it to Ford Field without him.
“I heard a pop and just sat there for a little bit,” Medich told JoeInsider.com Sunday morning. “It didn’t really hurt; it just felt awkward. I was actually able to lift my arms over my head and move it afterwards.”
The shoulder quickly tightened up on him.
“[Doctors] said it was completely broken,” said Medich, who added other details not for the squeamish.
It’s the latest in a number of physical setbacks for the 6-foot, 185-pounder. Medich tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the seventh grade during basketball season. He put off surgery for two years, but not before he tore his meniscus and other ligaments during basketball in the eighth grade. Everything was repaired his freshman year.
Not until the final two games of the 2012 football season did Medich feel 100 percent for the first time in nearly five years.
“After what happened with my knee, I kind of have a different mindset about everything. I’m able to handle it better,” he said. “But it’s really devastating for me. I’ve thought about it a lot and it’s very devastating. I really wish I could be out there quarterbacking that team, but now I just have to support them. I believe they can get it done.”
Senior Robert Riley finished the game for the Hornets as he has many times in blowout victories this season. Mendon head coach John Schwartz said he is to sit down with his staff Sunday evening to discuss how to fill the void, which might include using multiple quarterbacks.
Riley starts at tight end and junior Parker Cupp, who has also taken some snaps in mop-up time this season, starts at receiver.
“Either one are capable of doing it,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz said junior varsity QB Trey Cook, a sophomore, should get some work at the position as well.
“We’re going to have to regroup and figure out the best way to set up our offense,” Schwartz said. “We’re not sure what we’re going to do. I’m sure we’ll try two or three different things and try to figure out what’s going to work best for us.”
The Hornets lost running back Mitchell Coler to a knee injury early in the season. Schwartz said he hasn’t experienced such injury hits to his offense in his tenure at Mendon.
“We’re just going to have to do the best we can with it,” he said. “We’ll be all right. Obviously we’re going to suffer in some areas without Jordan being in there. Our kids are just going to have to pick their heads up and get it done.”