The casualty list at Chaffey College is getting longer.
The Panthers chalked up a 31-14 win over Antelope Valley Saturday at Quartz Hill High School. Veteran coach Carl Beach is pleased to be 3-0, but he is wondering who he’ll left with when his team goes to play Grossmont on Saturday.
The latest addition to the injury list is sophomore offensive lineman Baron Coffin banged up both a knee and a shoulder. He had played center and guard but moved to right tackle on Thursday when Addison Bachman went down with a knee injury. Bachman got hurt in the same practice in which kicker Jason Levy injured a knee practicing PATs.
Sophomore linebacker Aaron Plante got hurt against Southwestern a week ago.
Running backs Jahmel Rover and John Alejandro and defensive back Mike Fields were all gone with knee injuries before the season started.
“Now we’re going to have to count on some guys that really haven’t played a lot,” Beach said. “There won’t be many hard decisions, we don’t have that many people left. But it is what it is. We have to try and piece something together.”
Beach is satisfied with his team’s showing but is frustrated with its inconsistency. He also knows that is not unexpected given the number of personnel changes that have been made.
“We’ll have 10 minutes when we look like a million bucks, then we have a another stretch where we don’t know what we’re doing at all,” he said.
Penalties are still a problem too. The Panthers were called for 16 totaling 148 yards.
Beach was most pleased with the play of sophomore Aaron Mays who caught five passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns, one of those for 74 yards. He also returned a punt 86 yards for another score.
Beach also singled out the contributions from backs Tyler Thompson and Mark Chase.
Greg Sprowls and A.J. Springer split playing time with Sprowls throwing for 78 yards and Springer 77. The system has been working so Beach sees no need to change it.
“They are both a piece of the puzzle and bring a different dimension to what we’re doing,” he said. “But they both have limitations as well.”
Beach added that he doesn’t plan on backing off in practice to avoid injuries, especially since the replacements need the practice time.
“I don’t think it’s conditioning of something we’re doing wrong. They’re just fluke things,” he said.
