Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: Injuries are the great equalizer in sports

There is nothing that can torpedo a season faster than injuries. They are devastating on so many levels.Obviously, they?re painfully unfortunate for the athletes who suffer them. And they?re just as deflating for the team that must now scurry to deal with filling the void.Last season, English lost several key players to injury and it really wrecked the Bulldogs? season. But they got a few of those players back in time for Thanksgiving and showed what might have been if they?d all stayed healthy. They beat the Rams despite Classical having a much better record.A week ago in this space we marveled at the spectacular 107-yard interception return by St. John?s Prep?s Johnny Thomas. This week we note, sadly, that Thomas has played his last football game — at least at The Prep. After hurting his right knee in Saturday?s loss to Everett, he will undergo season-ending surgery at the end of the week.?Although Johnny is disappointed that this means he will not play for the rest of the season, he is looking forward to a full recovery and getting started with the rehabilitation process,” his father, Nate, said in a statement Monday.And while it?s not football-related, it should be noted, too, that St. Mary?s soccer and track star Carol DiMaiti tore her ACL during the city tournament last month.It?s bad enough when someone such as Vince Wilfork, who has apparently torn his Achilles tendon, suffers an injury. But it?s worse for high school seniors like Thomas and DiMaiti, especially if those injuries are debilitating. There is no next season for them — at least in high school.This is why it can get a little tiresome to hear armchair experts talk about injured athletes having no heart, or being brittle, or — a favorite here — that they “can?t stay on the field.”Athletes throw their bodies around for our entertainment pleasure, and expose them to some pretty intense trauma. They?re bound to get hurt once in a while in the process. That?s the reality of it.Let?s just hope for a full recovery for all concerned.On a much brighter note, Classical dodged a bullet with Devin Crayton. When he got hurt a couple of weeks ago, it was feared he?d broken his foot. That wasn?t the case. It was a sprain. And, with a well-timed bye allowing him to heal, Crayton was back in action Friday, wreaking havoc on Salem as the Rams ran roughshod over the Witches.That one had to feel good. And we?re not talking about just the win, but the sight of Crayton on the field. He is obviously a huge weapon for the Rams and his absence over the long haul would be a huge obstacle to overcome.If there?s an advantage to this new system, it?s that we start league play much earlier. It?s difficult to tell sometimes how good teams are when they?re playing non-league games, especially if they?re what we like to call “shotgun weddings,” or games arranged because teams have mutual open dates they want to fill.This becomes painfully obvious when you see a St. Mary?s team that put up more than 100 points over a two-week span struggle to score 14 against Catholic Central League/Large rival Austin Prep.This isn?t to demean St. Mary?s as much as it is to comment on how the rivalries between league teams, and the knowledge they can gain from knocking heads year after year, can affect how the games go.There?s also the “every dog has its day” syndrome too. One team might be particularly powerful one year and have a field day against the other. The next year, the tables are turned. It?s one of the things that make high school sports so fascinating.English and Tech, both coming off byes, open their league schedules this week. The Bulldogs host Swampscott Friday in the early game at Manning Field (5) and Tech is at Manning Saturday (7) against North Shore.The second half of Friday?s doubleheader will have Classical facing Peabody (7:30).We?re pleased to announce that we will have Players of the Week, as we have in the past, the awards sponsored by the Agganis Foundation.This year, we welcome