Mingo Central lost more than the game this past Friday night at Wayne. Freshman quarterback Stevie Hammond injured his back and is out for the season.

His father William Hammond said Stevie is doing fine. He had to be taken from the field by an ambulance to a hospital in Huntington.

“He is wearing a back brace and getting around good. He has a compressed fracture in one of his vertebras in his back,” William Hammond said. “He will be out at least 4-6 weeks and maybe longer. He has to have physical therapy.”

Stevie will being seeing a specialist as soon as an appointment can be made.

The young signal caller said he is doing better.

“It’s rough getting out of the bed and taking showers. I’m just lucky that I didn’t get hurt worse,” Stevie said. “The doctor said that by the way it looks - I’ll be out for this season and the first part of the basketball season. But, he (the doctor) said just to make sure that everything is safe, I’ll have to go see a spine doctor.”

“I believe Mingo Central will play even harder,” Stevie added. “I hope for a speedy recovery so I can get back out there with my team.”

Another Mingo Central player, senior Joe Hall, suffered a concussion in the game with Wayne. He will be out for this week’s game with Tolsia.

Davey Ward, a senior, who has sit out the last two games because of a concussion, may be back this week.

Short stuff:

On a sad not, the Shelby Valley community is mourning the loss of a high school junior after she was killed in a car crash. Kaitlyn Kiser was killed in the crash on Robinson Creek Road in Pike County. The school postponed the homecoming dance in respect for the family.

… I think it is a very nice tribute by WVU to place helmet stickers with the badge numbers of the two recently killed West Virginia State Troopers.

… If you didn’t think WVU quarterback Geno Smith was a Heisman Trophy front-runner - after his performance Saturday against Baylor, that should have changed your mind. In that game he threw for a school record 656 yards and eight TD passes. For the season Smith is 141 for 169 in four wins for 1,728 yards and 20 touchdowns with no interceptions. He’s hitting 83.4 percent of his passes.

Smith was named Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Week, just one of the many honors he received after that incredible performance.

… The Big 12 Conference has announced that the Oct. 13 Big 12 Conference football contest between West Virginia and Texas Tech at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas, will be aired on ABC at 3:30 p.m., EST.

(Kyle Lovern is the sports editor for the Williamson Daily News. Comments or story ideas can be sent to klovern@williamsondailynews.com)