Details on the Air Force Quarterback's Injuries

Note from blogger: It took some digging, but I finally found an article discussing what appeared to be a gruesome injury to Air Force Academy Quarterback Shaun Carney.  The lower leg appeared to have bent at a 45 degree angle.  Once he was assisted from the field, television cameras initially showed him simply lying on a stretcher watching the game, but he soon was covered in blankets surround by medical personnel, in such pain that he was biting a towel.  Here’s the article.

 

Falcons fall in aftermath of fallen leader's injury

By Woody Paige

The Denver Post

Shaun Carney's career was finished with 3:04 left in the third quarter.  And Air Force's season was finished.

Carney was carried away slowly from the sideline on a stretcher in the fourth quarter. A few minutes later, Air Force walked out of Amon Carter Stadium slowly, saddened by the loss of a game, but more so over the loss of their fallen leader.  "Shaun is hurting," Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said.  Initially, the announcement was that Carney had sustained a sprained right knee. I'm no doctor, but I play one in the press box, and my diagnosis was the injury was much more serious.  "He has a torn ACL," the coach said.

There are no more games to play for the future officer, who completed his first solo flight in July.  The Falcons' field general commanded the same respect from his men as did Gen. Robert E. Lee. The Quarterback's favorite book is "Leading With The Heart." He does.  Carney is the only quarterback in academy history to start his first game as a freshman and every game as a sophomore, junior and senior. He is the Falcons' all-time leader in total yardage.  The most prominent member of Cadet Squadron 2 scored the first touchdown of the Armed Forces Bowl and threw for the second. The 22-year-old, high-flying Carney had run for 108 yards and passed for 68 when Air Force, ahead 24-21, was confronted with third down at the California 1-yard line. As usual, in tough, tight times, Air Force went to the option. Carney could keep, or he could toss. He chose to keep. He was slammed, and his right leg was bent horribly in an unnatural direction.

Carney went down at the 1 and slammed his fist on the turf.  He was done, and though Air Force kicked a field goal to go up 27-21, the Falcons soon came undone. By the end of the third quarter, the Falcons trailed, and they were behind 42-30 before scoring a late touchdown.  In a span of 23 hours I watched two of the state's schools both lose by six points in bowl games. This was more difficult for Air Force than Sunday night's defeat was for Colorado at the hands of Alabama. The Buffs came back from a 27-0, second-quarter deficit. The Falcons gave up a 21-0 advantage.  Air Force's option confused and confounded Cal early and often. The Bears were bared on the Falcons' first three possessions, but settled down in the second quarter and cut the lead to seven by halftime.  As one of the CU players was saying a few hours earlier in Shreveport, La.: "Bowls always seem to be very weird in the beginning. You don't know which team is going to come out in overdrive."  Before 40,905 — a majority representing the United States Air Force — on the campus of TCU (a team the Falcons beat in overtime this season), the Zoomies were driving over Cal even when the Bears were driving back.  Then Carney's wicked injury silenced the masses, stunned the Falcons. He was helped up and to the bench by two trainers, then lay prone, covered by blankets, on two equipment bins. Teammates filed by.  Shea Smith replaced Carney, but he couldn't really. He had appeared in an understudy's role in six games in two years, but had never thrown a college pass in anger. He completed four on New Year's Eve and guided the Falcons to the one late touchdown. Smith does get a head start on starting next season.

Carney had been concerned before this season that despite his gawky numbers the past three years, he didn't own the victories of his worthy predecessors — Marty Louthan, Dee Dowis, Bart Weiss, Blane Morgan. The Falcons had won just five, four and five games — without a bowl.  However, under the new coach, Calhoun, and an offense that featured more passing — Carney's forte — he joined his predecessors with nine victories and an invitation to play in the appropriately named Armed Forces Bowl. He was on the way Monday to directing Air Force to its most triumphant season since 1998. He was on his way to being the MVP of the bowl.  It shouldn't have to end this way for Carney.  But, still, he had flown into the Wild Blue Here and Yonder.  Shaun Carney is the right stuff our military is made of.