Loss Of Wade Painful For All At Lake Braddock
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Mark Wade counseled his wide
receivers and consoled his defense. He
pumped his fist when Lake Braddock’s
football team took the lead and
groaned after a critical turnover. He
even scouted the opposing defense,
alerting the Bruins’ coaches when he
saw something promising.
Wade did the best he could in that 37-
24 home loss on Sept. 21 to No. 3
Westfield. But Wade, Lake Braddock’s
starting quarterback last season, made his
contributions while hobbling up and
down the sideline on crutches, his
football career cut short by a broken leg
before his senior season even began.
“To see my guys out there playing
hard and to not be out there with them - it
hurts to even watch sometimes,” said
Wade, who was injured in the first half of
a scrimmage against Langley, one week
before the season-opener against
Jefferson. “I’d like to think I could
change the outcome of some of these
games, but even if I couldn’t at least I’d
be on the field losing with them.”
Wade took a direct hit on his right leg
from a Langley defender’s helmet and felt
a popping sensation near his knee. He
had to be helped off the field and the pain
kept him up most of that night, but Wade
felt like he’d experienced worse. So he
wasn’t prepared when the doctor told him
the next morning that the leg was broken
and his football career was finished.
“My whole body went numb,” Wade
said. “No football? I’ve been playing this
sport my whole life. How can I not play?”
For the first time, Wade, a two-sport
athlete who in August verbally committed
to play lacrosse at the University of
Virginia, had to watch from the sidelines.
His injury had a devastating effect on
Lake Braddock’s fortunes. Without its
quarterback – “the person the entire
[offensive] system was built around,”
according to first-year Bruins coach Jim
Poythress – the Bruins power-I offense
was scrapped and positions changed. The
changes were not smooth.
Lake Braddock
is 0-5, a brutal start for a program that in
the 1990s won more games than any
Northern Region team.
“I felt like if we could protect him
then Mark would have a great senior
year,” Poythress said. “With him at
quarterback and [senior receivers David
Jones and Koko Matali] we had the
nucleus of a great offense, something
special. But when Mark got hurt our
whole identity was lost.”
With six teams on the schedule
ranked in the Journal Top
10 and a
defense that is still a work in progress,
that firepower may not have been enough
for a winning record, let alone a playoff
berth. But the Bruins liked their chances,
even without running back Sean Tyree,
an All-Patriot District selection as a
junior who violated the school’s athletic
participation policy over the summer and
now attends a military school in
Pennsylvania.
Instead, Wade’s injury left the offense
in the hands of junior Matt Weiler, one of
the school’s top athletes. But Weiler, a
two-time All-Journal soccer
player and a
varsity basketball player, hadn’t played
football since grade school. Originally
slated at wide receiver or running back he
suddenly found himself playing the most
important position on the field.
“I felt terrible for Matt Weiler because
we threw him into the fire with three days
to get ready,” Poythress said. “I’m
extremely proud of how he’s handled it.
But he’s an elite athlete with high
standards so it’s frustrating for him, too.”
Wade was left with a gaping hole in
his schedule, one that had always been
filled with sports. Instead, he’d come
home after school, do his homework and
spend the rest of the afternoon playing
video games. No more practices, no more
film sessions, no more Friday night
games. To fill the time and earn some
extra money he’s taken a job at an area
lacrosse store.
“You really can’t understand how
much you love the game until you can’t
play it anymore,” said Wade, a second team
All-Journal goalie in
lacrosse.
“Every time I watch a pro game, every
time I watch a college game, every time I
see a high school game it reminds me of
how damn much I miss playing. If I could
be cleared to stand on one foot and just
throw the ball I’d do it.”
Wade is set for an MRI today to
determine if the bone has healed properly.
If it has he could be off crutches within
three weeks. If not, it could be another
two months. Either way, it’s an
agonizing wait until he can
begin conditioning again for
lacrosse.
For now, he and the Bruins’
football team are both trying to
focus on their bright futures. He
has lacrosse to look forward to
in the spring and a scholarship
to an NCAA-championship
caliber lacrosse program waiting
for him, a commitment
reaffirmed by Cavaliers coach
Dom Starsia in the days after the
injury.
The Bruins start nine
underclassmen on defense and
eight on offense, including
Weiler and promising
sophomore running back Jordan
Russell, giving hope that within
a few years Lake Braddock will
re-gain its place among the
region’s elite.
“I guess everything happens
for a reason, but what that is I
don’t know,” Wade said. “Maybe
it’s to give the young guys on
our team a chance to develop
and help rebuild Lake Braddock
football like we wanted to do.
Maybe it’s an opportunity to do
something I’ve never done
before, like get a job and earn
some money, because sports has
been my whole life before this.
