Indiana high school football prediction: Cathedral at Ben Davis
Insider Kyle Neddenriep previews Cathedral’s first week clash with Ben Davis.
Clark Wade
For the first time in his 60-year career as a high school football coach, Bud Wright won’t be on the sidelines Friday night. But whether he wins or loses, the result will be his.
“It will definitely be,” Wright said Thursday evening. “The whole game plan is mine.”
The state’s winningest coach hopes to watch Sheridan’s season opener against Western Boone on his iPad, but he will do so from his hospital room at Ascension St. Vincent on West 86.th Street.
“In my 62 years of coaching, I’ve never missed a game,” Wright said. “I’ve only missed 14 or 15 practices. But these things happen. You can only laugh about it. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
When Wright laughs, it is despite intense pain. The 83-year-old Sheridan coach, who played 456 of his 457 games in his 60 years at Sheridan,th season overall, broke the humerus in his right arm while Sheridan was playing at Crawfordsville last Friday. Wright was standing about 10 yards behind one of Sheridan’s offensive plays when, well…
“Our offensive lineman missed a block and their 255-pound defensive lineman came through,” Wright said. “Our quarterback started lining up, then tried to run and ran right back at me. It was a perfect tackle. He drove the quarterback right back at me.”
Wright laughs about it now. He twisted his body to the right so that his head didn’t hit the turf, but fell heavily. Not only did he break his arm, but he also jammed the “ball” in the ball joint of his shoulder, meaning he can no longer move his shoulder. Wright said the Crawfordsville player responsible for the commotion in the Sheridan backfield has apologized profusely and repeatedly.
“I told him he played great,” Wright said. “I told him he did exactly what he should have done. He apologized all over the place, but he shouldn’t feel bad at all. He’s a really good player.”
Wright also pulled a groin in the fall, making it difficult for him to walk. He normally rides around in a golf cart during practice, which he plans to continue doing. In fact, Wright attended the coaches’ meeting on Sunday and hasn’t missed a single practice all week. The only reason he’s missing Friday’s game is because he has no other choice.
After a visit to the emergency room Friday night after the practice game and a meeting with a trauma surgeon Monday morning, Wright was told he needed surgery as soon as possible. The best he could do was Friday at 3 p.m., just four hours before third-place Sheridan is scheduled to open the season in Class A.
“(The doctor) told me he might be able to treat me on Wednesday, but then called back and said he couldn’t change it,” Wright said.
The surgery should take about an hour and a half, so hopefully he’ll have enough time to prepare to watch the game via streaming on his iPad. “The doctor said I might be a little foggy,” Wright said. “Everyone is different.”
Wright’s six assistants will be all on board. His son, Travis Wright, and Jake Chesney will call the plays. But Wright doesn’t plan on missing much time.
“I asked the doctor and he said, ‘As soon as you feel like it,'” he said. “He said, ‘You just have to be careful and stuff.’ Then he said, ‘Three weeks.’ I said, ‘That’s not going to happen. What about next week?’ And he said, ‘Whenever you feel like it.'”
This is the last game for the foreseeable future in the rivalry between Western Boone and Sheridan, which has been going on since 1997. Sheridan will take over South Adams next season. Western Boone will move to the Monon Athletic Conference in 2025.
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
