Chelmsford star QB hospitalized
Wilder may miss the rest of season after injury
The Chelmsford High football team’s thoughts and prayers are with star quarterback Kyle Wilder, who remains hospitalized after sustaining an injury from last weekend’s game.
Wilder was admitted to Boston Children’s Hospital on Tuesday, after suffering what athletic director Dan Hart called a “thigh injury.”
He remained out of action in Friday’s game against North Andover, and could be lost for the season.
“Kyle Wilder is hospitalized,” said Chelmsford coach George Peterson. “It’s a private family matter at this point. It is related to his injury last Friday. He was hospitalized on Tuesday and remains hospitalized now. That’s basically all the information I can give. We will not have him going forward.”
The injury stemmed from last Friday’s game against Methuen, and Wilder was admitted to Boston Children’s Hospital, where he remained as of late Saturday morning.
“I’ve been closely in touch with his family,” said Peterson. “It’s a private family situation at this point.”
A senior, Wilder is one of the elite quarterbacks in the area. The 6-foot, 185-pound signalcaller put up some impressive numbers his junior year, including 24 touchdown passes and nine rushing scores. He threw for over 1,200 yards and ran for 700, combining for just under 2,000 total yards, and was named a Sun All-star.
It’s been a trying time for the Chelmsford football program. In June, a beloved football player and wrestler, Nik Sperounis, died after a courageous cancer battle. He was 18.
“This is a group that has already gone through a lot of trag
edy with one of their teammates passing away,” said Hart. “They’re tough kids. They’re heartbroken right now. Everyone feels terrible for Kyle. Asking these kids to learn a lot of this on the fly, and how to deal with it, has been tough.”
The team showed its iron-willed resolved Friday night in North Andover. Up
13-6 heading into the fourth quarter, Chelmsford painfully watched as the Scarlet Knights rallied for the 14-13 come-from-behind victory.
“We came up short,” said Peterson, whose squad fell to 0-4. “It was one of those things where the kids really wanted to play for Kyle and do the things necessary to pull out a win for him. There was a ton of disappointment that we couldn’t get that done.”
The Lions scored on a pair of long touchdown passes by junior quarterback Ryan Hart. The backup QB unleashed a 99-yard TD pass to Jake Brooks before sending Mikey Mwaniki deep on a 63-yard TD strike. Hart finished the night 8-for-18 passing for 189 yards.
Not a bad debut for someone taking practice snaps at tight end on Monday
“We learned Tuesday that we were going to be without Kyle,” said Peterson. “Ryan came in and did a great job for us. We just weren’t able to do the little things necessary to pull it out. It was disappointing and frustrating, but we’re getting better. At one point we had five sophomores and a freshman on the field, so we were young.”
The team has also shown tremendous resiliency given all the obstacles in front of them this past week.
“It’s been an emotional week, especially for the senior class,” said Peterson. “Compartmentalizing all that and going out and playing a football game on Friday is something that’s tough, but they were able to do it. They played hard. They gave us a chance to win. We were just a missed extra point short of being in a situation where we’re going into overtime, and try to play for a win.”
As the team moves on, their thoughts remain with Wilder.
“They all love him,” said Hart. “He’s been the starter for the last three years. He’s a leader on the team, and one of the best kids you’ll ever meet.”