Vikings Win Large against Ashland City - Joshua Injured

Today I went back to my alma mater. I told Kevin, as we were getting ready for football this morning that when I was in high school I never dreamed I be back at the football field watching my son play football. That was so far from my imagination!!

Today we travelled to Cheatham Co. High School to play the Ashland City Cowboys. Since we are required to have the boys there at 11:30 for pre-game warmup, I had planned to sit in the stands and watch the younger boys play before going to the sidelines to take pictures.

A few minutes passed and one of the parents said, "Who's that down? Is that Josh Latham?" HUH??? Josh Latham??? Down??? What??? Mommy-fear went into overdrive as I saw a player lying on the sidelines with Coach John looking at him. I got John's number from Trish so I could see what was wrong and to remind Coach John -- "No duct tape." (see photo from baseball)...

I decided to go down and check on the "Little Man" and WOW was he in pain. His face had broken out in a full sweat, he was near crying and saying, "It hurts!!" I called Kevin to bring down an ice pack and some Motrin. Coach John wrapped his ankle (and not in duct tape, haha!) and Josh lay on the ground.

After a lot of talk, we all agreed that Josh didn't need to play since he couldn't even put his weight on his ankle. The coaches had to carry him to the sidelines where he set up residence for the rest of the game.

The boys played an awesome game, defeating Ashland City 44-6. I was sad that Josh didn't get to play since LAST year he didn't get to play in the AC game either since he broke his toe at church before that game. It must be the Ashland City curse (smile).

After the game, we took Josh to the urgent care at Rivergate where he got x-rayed and pronounced officially sprained. The nurse wrapped his foot, put it in a splint, told him to walk with crutches and gave him a "Get out of PE free" pass for two weeks. WHOO HOO, huh??? Of course, he did say that only Josh will be able to determine when he can play football again, a week or two.

Our neighbors, Terry and Debra, loaned us crutches for Josh to use until Friday when Debra has surgery on her foot. Hopefully, he'll be able to walk again by then. Here he is with crutches and wrapped foot:

The best part of the game was thinking up reasons to tell people of how Joshua got injured. Here's a Top 10 List:

Top Ten Excuses Given for How Joshua was Injured:

1. He ran over three players in a tackle. (We aren't mentioning the fact that it was pre-game warm up and that the three players were his own teammates).

2. He decided he was tired of guarding Alec (you have to be Alec to get this joke) and wanted a day to let Alec guard him.

3. The CCHS band practicing distracted him and he got injured.

4. Coach Jeff N. was demonstrating "Gator Killing" with Coach Jeff W and they accidentally hit Josh, and as he fell backward he twisted his ankle.

5. It as all a carefully masterminded plan to make the Cowboys overconfident by seeing an injured player so they would think we were weak and we could take them out.

6. Josh wanted to see what it felt like to have the coaches carry him around the field.

7. Josh wanted to be waited on hand and foot by his mom and dad.

8. He was running to recover a fumble so he could actually carry the ball and was tripped by someone on the opposing team.

9. He was so busy "Working His Off to Kick Yours" that he became unbalanced and fell.

10. He knew if he got hurt he would miss a week's worth of sit-ups!!

On a final note, though, we are very appreciative to all his coaches, who cared for him, carried him and called to check on him during this time. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have the football coaching staff we have -- men who are not only knowledgeable in teaching the skills of football, but who also are teaching our son the value of caring for others. Thank you Coach Jeff W, Jeff N, Chuck, Chris, Hans and John for all you do!