Bradshaw’s shoulder injury shakes up Estancia depth chart

Barry Faulkner

Lewis Bradshaw may not be the Estancia High football team’s most

indispensable player, but he is, arguably, its best. So, when the

6-foot-3, 183-pound senior quarterback-reciever-safety-punter was

sidelined with a shoulder injury while covering the opening kickoff

Friday against Katella, it’s fair to say Coach Jay Noonan’s game plan

also suffered a severe dislocation.

Dislocation may be too severe a word to describe the trauma

sustained by Noonan’s shoulder when he was, Noonan said, “nudge

blocked” just seconds into the Eagles’ 34-0 nonleague loss to the

Knights.

But while official medical word will require a thorough

examination, expected to be completed today, Bradshaw is expected to

miss at least the Golden West League opener, scheduled Saturday at 7

p.m. against Westminster.

Noonan praised the work of junior Brad Young and senior Louis

Valdes Jr., who filled in for Bradshaw at quarterback and free

safety, respectively. And sophomore Geo Macias sparkled as the

impromptu punter, averaging 41.5 yards on two attempts.

But Bradshaw’s presence as the trigger man on the Eagles’

split-back veer offense, as well as his other roles, was something

Estancia (1-2) could have used against the powerful Empire League

representative.

Young completed 9 of 21 passes for 60 yards and the Estancia

ground game produced a meager 16 yards.

Valdes intercepted a pass to tie Bradshaw for the team lead this

season, but Katella steamrolled the Eagles for 233 rushing yards,

including 179 yards and three touchdowns by senior Mike Vega.

Noonan deferred to medical personnel on specifics of Bradshaw’s

injury, but said the fact that Bradshaw was not even knocked to the

ground on the play could be encouraging.

“He is the safety on our kickoff team and, as he is running down

the field, a guy bumps into him,” Noonan said. “It didn’t look like a

severe hit and Lewis did not land on his shoulder. It was just a

freaky little thing, a fluke.”

Bradshaw’s absence forced Noonan to press Young, who had shared

time at quarterback the first two games, into a full-time role on

offense. It was particularly unfortunate, Noonan said, because Young,

who had not practiced all week after “getting his bell rung,” in last

week’s loss to Century, was not expected to play against Katella.

“Young came in and did a great job, especially after not having

had any repetitions in practice,” Noonan said.

Noonan, however, said one player, even one as versatile and

valuable as Bradshaw, would not have made much of a difference

against Katella, where he worked as defensive coordinator in 1997 and

‘98 under current coach Dominik Unger.

“This is probably the best team Katella has had since my first

year there,” Noonan said. “I believe Katella would win the Golden

West League without much competition, and that’s no disrespect to the

schools in our league. (The Knights, now 3-0) are physical, strong,

fast and they don’t make mistakes. It’s just a better football team

than we are right now.”

Noonan said his offense moved the ball at times, though he

acknowledged that statistics don’t reflect it, and was pleased with

Young’s passing performance.