Armwood QB Richardson doubtful for Gainesville game

Posted Nov 29, 2011 by Bill Ward

Updated Nov 29, 2011 at 11:30 PM

Still suffering lingering effects from a shoulder injury suffered against King more than three weeks ago, Armwood junior quarterback Darryl Richardson is doubtful for the Hawks’ Class 6A region final Friday at home against Gainesville High, Armwood coach Sean Callahan said Tuesday evening.

Richardson has been in such discomfort from the shoulder he took a cortisone injection to the affected area Tuesday to help relieve the pain.

It’s been a trying first season at Armwood for the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Richardson. He started the fall campaign with a ruptured bursa sack in his right knee in Week 1 against Las Vegas Bishop Gorman. That kept him out of action for nearly a month and he later aggravated that injury when he took a hit to the knee two weeks later. Just when he was getting back into the swing of things, he fell and landed hard on his shoulder in the last week of the season against King.

As a result, Callahan and Hawks offensive coordinator Evan Davis have been forced to improvise, moving receiver Alvin Bailey to quarterback. While Bailey has turned out to be one of the area’s most impressive players at the position, it has required plenty of work by both he and his coaches as the undefeated and nationally-ranked Hawks (12-0) try to return to the state title game in Orlando.

Callahan and Davis have also had to deal with the absence of star running back Matt Jones, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in August and is only now coming into full form.

“As a (coaching staff), I think we’ve done one of our best jobs this season,” Callahan said. “There’s been a lot to deal with and Alvin’s a good example of what we’ve done on the fly this year. Guys like Alvin and Matt make it look like it was easy, but everybody here has put in a lot of work to get here.”