Agony in Defeat : Make No Bones About It--a Slew of Injuries Add Up to a Lost and Painful Season for Cal Lutheran

While some college football teams like USC run the ball out of a simple I-formation, Cal Lutheran University has used several variations of the I-formation this year. The Kingsmen have, at various times, run the “I-Can’t-Get-Up formation,” “the I-Can’t-Walk formation” and the “I-Need-Immediate-Medical-Attention formation.” While some other schools, like Oklahoma, continue to run the Wishbone formation, Cal Lutheran is mastering the Brokenbone formation.

As the school celebrates the 25th anniversary of its football program, there could soon be a move underway on the campus to change the team’s 1986 motto from “Year of the Kingsmen” to “YEEOOOWW!!” The fastest guy on the team, and the one who has made the most runs this season, is Rod Poindexter. He’s the trainer.

“A few weeks ago, the list of our injured players was as long as your arm,” Coach Bob Shoup said on Tuesday. “Now, the list is as long as your arm and your leg.”

Both of which, presumably, are broken.

While many colleges struggle to bring the rampant problem of cocaine under control, the Kingsmen are being buried under a different kind of white powder. This powder is mixed with water to form plaster of Paris. There have been more casts on the Cal Lutheran campus this season than there were in “The King and I.”

“We’re up into the 30s now in severe injuries of one form or another,” said Shoup, whose team opened the season with 71 players and has crumbled to a 2-6 record under the weight of the injuries.

“Some of those 30 or so have come back to us since being injured early in the season, and I guess there’s about 12 guys who can’t play this week because of injuries.”

The list of injured is rather remarkable not only for its length, but for names of the players who have gone down.

Earl Bentancourt, one of the team’s top defensive players for three years, never even made it to the 1986 season. He injured a knee last year, underwent two operations during the winter and spring and, as he appeared to be returning to health this summer, tore a calf muscle and was lost for the season.

Backup quarterback Jeff Chalmers also didn’t make it to the opening game. During a no-contact drill on the second day of practice, he fell awkwardly and dislocated his elbow. Andy Dickerson, a 6-5, 285-pound lineman who transfered from the University of Miami, hurt his knee on the first day of practice. A week later, he barely noticed the pain in his knee. That’s because he tore tendons in his ankle. Both were hurried into the lineup because of injuries to other players.

In the third game, quarterback Tom Bonds, the team’s leader, went down with a knee injury. He missed the second half of the game against Cal State Hayward and sat out the next two weeks.

“That was the most devastating injury of the year because we had so much momentum going at that point,” said the school’s sports information director, Jim Buchheim.

The Kingsmen were 2-0 when Bonds was hurt. They have lost six straight games since, including last Saturday’s 18-17 loss to Cal State Sacramento, the top team in the Western Football Conference. In that game, the Kingsmen lost starting tight end Darren Gottschalk for the rest of the season with a dislocated shoulder and also lost top running back Noel Chesnut for at least one week with an ankle injury.

In the fourth game of the season, Terry Rowe, Cal Lutheran’s starting inside linebacker and one of the team’s best players, suffered torn knee ligaments. He was lost for the rest of the season. In the fifth game, starting safety Todd Leavens sustained a deep thigh bruise. He missed 2 1/2 games.

The Kingsmen have also lost the following players for the rest of the season:

Defensive tackle Mike Miller, the team’s most ferocious hitter. Dislocated shoulder.

Strong safety/linebacker Tippy Wilcox. Neck injury.

Guard John Goslin. Broken thumb.

Quarterback Shane Hawkins. Broken clavicle.

Other players, including such standouts as running back Shawn Johnson, defensive back Oscar Williams, linebacker Sean Demmon, running back Tracy Downs, tackle John Hynes, linebacker Jim Buffo and running back Michael Parks are badly dinged up and are listed as either questionable or probable for Saturday’s game at Southern Utah State.

“I went into the training room yesterday and there were so many players getting treatment that I asked, ‘Are we having a team meeting in here?’ ” Buchheim said Tuesday.

The injuries have taken their toll in the second half of games, when the Kingsmen have been outscored, 100-53, and particularly in the fourth quarter, when opponents have overwhelmed them, 78-31.

“Our lack of depth is really starting to hamper us because we’re running out of gas in the second half,” Shoup said.

Luckily, Cal Lutheran has only three games left in 1986, the season that will go down in the school’s history book as The Year of the X-Ray.