Parklane Academy loses 2 grid starters
Courtesy of The Enterprise-Journal
Parklane Academy head football coach Bo Milton has experienced a less-than-memorable offseason.
Milton has announced that starting cornerback/slot receiver Hunter Authement will miss the upcoming season after suffering a torn ACL in his right knee.
Junior quarterback Steven Swindle announced he is transferring to Oak Grove this fall.
Swindle’s departure leaves senior Brandon Austin and sophomore Zac Stutzman in competition for the starting job, Milton said.
“They’re getting an equal number of snaps in practice,” Milton said.
Parklane Academy sophomore football player James Michael Schmidt will miss the upcoming season after suffering a freak and frightening accident while night fishing with his friends July 4 at Eagle Lake in Vicksburg.
According to his mother Pam Schmidt, the 16-year-old younger brother of former Parklane multi-sport athlete Chance Schmidt, James Michael sustained the injury when his friend tried to set the hook in a fish that had hit. When the boy jerked the line backward toward Schmidt, the fish came off and the hook hit Schmidt in his right eye.
Mrs. Schmidt said the hook went through her son’s eyeball and exited the sciera, also known as the white of the eye.
“I was thinking, ‘Did this really happen?’ ” James Michael said by phone Monday. “I was just shocked.”
According to Pam Schmidt, the hook remained lodged in her son’s eye for about eight hours. The boy was taken to the emergency room at Parkview Regional Medical Center in Vicksburg, where he and his parents were told that the facility did not have the doctors to treat the injury.
James Michael was then transported by ambulance to Baptist Hospital in Jackson. After a specialist was called in, James Michael underwent surgery to remove the hook.
Mrs. Schmidt said her son received five stitches, which will remain in the eye for several months, but he otherwise has not lost vision in the eye.
“God was watching out for him,” Mrs. Schmidt said. “It’s a miracle he didn’t lose sight in the eye. We’re very grateful.”
While there is a 5 percent chance the injury could be healed by a hard contact lens once the stitches are removed, John Michael said doctors told him there is a 95 percent chance he will need a cornea transplant.
If James Michael does require a cornea transplant, he would no longer be able to play sports, he said.
“You really don’t want to hear anything like that if you love football as much as I do,” he said. “I love the game. But I have to realize that later on in life, it may be for my own good. Later on in life, I’ll be able to see.”
Courtesy of The Enterprise-Journal
Parklane Academy head football coach Bo Milton has experienced a less-than-memorable offseason.
Milton has announced that starting cornerback/slot receiver Hunter Authement will miss the upcoming season after suffering a torn ACL in his right knee.
Junior quarterback Steven Swindle announced he is transferring to Oak Grove this fall.
Swindle’s departure leaves senior Brandon Austin and sophomore Zac Stutzman in competition for the starting job, Milton said.
“They’re getting an equal number of snaps in practice,” Milton said.
Parklane Academy sophomore football player James Michael Schmidt will miss the upcoming season after suffering a freak and frightening accident while night fishing with his friends July 4 at Eagle Lake in Vicksburg.
According to his mother Pam Schmidt, the 16-year-old younger brother of former Parklane multi-sport athlete Chance Schmidt, James Michael sustained the injury when his friend tried to set the hook in a fish that had hit. When the boy jerked the line backward toward Schmidt, the fish came off and the hook hit Schmidt in his right eye.
Mrs. Schmidt said the hook went through her son’s eyeball and exited the sciera, also known as the white of the eye.
“I was thinking, ‘Did this really happen?’ ” James Michael said by phone Monday. “I was just shocked.”
According to Pam Schmidt, the hook remained lodged in her son’s eye for about eight hours. The boy was taken to the emergency room at Parkview Regional Medical Center in Vicksburg, where he and his parents were told that the facility did not have the doctors to treat the injury.
James Michael was then transported by ambulance to Baptist Hospital in Jackson. After a specialist was called in, James Michael underwent surgery to remove the hook.
Mrs. Schmidt said her son received five stitches, which will remain in the eye for several months, but he otherwise has not lost vision in the eye.
“God was watching out for him,” Mrs. Schmidt said. “It’s a miracle he didn’t lose sight in the eye. We’re very grateful.”
While there is a 5 percent chance the injury could be healed by a hard contact lens once the stitches are removed, John Michael said doctors told him there is a 95 percent chance he will need a cornea transplant.
If James Michael does require a cornea transplant, he would no longer be able to play sports, he said.
“You really don’t want to hear anything like that if you love football as much as I do,” he said. “I love the game. But I have to realize that later on in life, it may be for my own good. Later on in life, I’ll be able to see.”
