The first football game comes to a halt and both teams take a knee as a McLean player is examined by athletic trainers. Spectators anxiously wait to figure out which player had been hurt. Minutes later, senior and starting quarterback Jonathan Pilsch limps off the field halfway through the second quarter and takes a seat on the bench.
In an effort to even out the score, Pilsch ran an offensive pass play that did not go as planned.
“The ball was snapped early, so I didn’t catch it. I bent over to pick up [the ball] and keep the play alive, but my foot got pinned under me as I got hit. All my weight and his [weight] were compressed onto [the ankle],” Pilsch said.
After watching Pilsch’s incident, assistant athletic trainer and office assistant Lisa Kavjian hustled onto the field to assess the injury.
“We got him off the field and we tried to see if he could put any pressure on it. He wasn’t able to do that, so we [started] poking around his ankle to find out exactly where the pain was located. I didn’t see anything other than a normal looking ankle,” Kavjian said.
Beginning his senior year as first string quarterback, Pilsch was eager to get back in the game, however, Kavjian insisted that he sit out for the remainder of the game.
“Since he was limping around, he [couldn’t] go back in [the game]. We needed to make sure that he was going to be safe when he goes back on the field. We tried to tape him up to see if that would help the injury at all, but ultimately he couldn’t go back in the game,” Kavjian said.
After losing Pilsch, sophomore quarterback Carter Govan stepped up to take his place.
“Carter played very nervously at first, but then [played] really well and [he]scored once, as well,” Pilsch said.
Considering the imperfect circumstances, the team put up a good fight against the Stonebridge Bulldogs throughout the rest of the game.
“The rest of the team really stepped up after I got hurt and they only gave up a few more touchdowns,” Pilsch said.
Pilsch spent four days resting from practice and went back onto the field last Friday night at the game against Marshall on Sept. 11. He plans to play the whole game this Friday, Sept. 18 against Madison and lead the team to its first victory.
