Photo

Photo by: William D. Lewis

Hubbard’s Larry Scott (3) is stopped by Girard defenders during their game at Girard on Friday.

Staff report

It is uncertain if two of the area’s top high school running backs will play this week as their teams begin preparing for Week 3 opponents.

Howland’s De’Veon Smith and Hubbard’s Larry Scott were injured Friday night. Smith, a University of Michigan recruit, hurt his shoulder early in the Tigers’ 34-0 loss to Warren Harding. Scott sustained an ankle injury during the Eagles’ 35-25 victory over Girard.

Smith and Scott were among a number of players who were injured in a rough-and-tumble Week 2.

It is too early to know if Smith will be able to play in Howland’s game at Lakeview or if Scott will be available when Hubbard hosts Canada’s M.M. Robinson. Both games are set for 7 p.m. on Friday.

“De’Veon’s got a second-degree separation, where thank God it’s not that serious,” Tigers coach Dick Angle said. “He possibly could be back this week. It depends how things go.”

Scott, who ran for 196 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries against the Indians at Arrowhead Stadium, was on crutches afterward.

“Larry is day-to-day,” Hubbard coach Brian Hoffman said. “It’s very early to speculate. There’s no break, which is good. We’re just going to take it one day at a time.

“He’s going to start taking some therapy and we’ll see where it goes.”

Smith had 328 yards on just 17 carries in Howland’s 43-16 season-opening victory over Ashtabula Lakeside. But he carried just three times for a yard against Harding before the shoulder injury sent him to the sideline for the rest of the game at Richard Lombardo Stadium.

Angle said 10 Howland players were injured and unable to continue against the Raiders.

“It was kind of bizarre,” he said. “I’ve never been in a situation when he we had so many guys go down like that.”

Wide receiver Brendan Cope was among Howland’s injured players. Angle said a player rolled up on Cope’s ankle and “stretched out” his Achilles’ tendon.

“He’s out this week for sure,” Angle said.

Three Howland players suffered knee injuries, including two ACLs and a PCL, and two other Tigers came out of the loss to Harding with hip-flexor injuries.

“There were a couple of other bumps and bruises,” Angle said. “But I thought our kids really played hard. We had our shot in the first quarter. We should have been up by 14, but we didn’t get it done and that’s on us. We made mental mistakes that we need to correct.”

Like Smith at Howland, Scott was not the only Hubbard player to go down with an injury last week. Running back Darnell Tate left the game game with a wrist injury and defensive lineman Brett Morgan left the field on a stretcher and was taken to a hospital.

Hoffman said Morgan was diagnosed with a concussion and was released from the hospital late Friday.

“He’s going to be out for some time,” Hoffman said.

The Eagle’s coach said Tate’s wrist injury is not a break and the running back could play against M.M. Robinson on Friday night.