Not once, not twice, but for the third year in a row, DeMatha loses a star player for the season to injury.
On Friday night, after the 35-23 loss to reigning national champion Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas, Stags running back MarShawn Lloyd told reporter Monet Anderson he suffered a broken wrist and will be forced to have season-ending surgery in the coming days.
“I fell on my arm the wrong way and my wrist is broken in two places, so I have to get surgery,” Lloyd told Anderson prior to the Stags’ opener on Friday night.
.Update on Marshawn Lloyd & his season ending injury. @InsideDMFB Full interview: http://t.co/pJqjPa5LBz Get well soon! pic.twitter.com/4wJXOOcfZV
— Kenny Anderson (@fielddreamz10) August 26, 2017
Stags coach Elijah Brooks has yet to comment on Lloyd’s injury. We will update this article with Brooks’ reaction as soon as possible.
Lloyd is the third DeMatha playmaker to go down with a season-ending injury the past three seasons. Current Maryland running back Anthony McFarland broke his fibula twice in back-to-back seasons. In 2015, he missed the last half of his junior year, and in 2016, he didn’t play one down as a senior.
D.J. Turner, who is also at Maryland, had to be carted off the field in 2015 after suffering the same injury as McFarland during the Stags’ nationally televised season opener. The same plot unfolded for Lloyd on Friday, who made an admirable debut as DeMatha’s feature back.
Lloyd rushed for 34 yards and a touchdown on eight carries before he exited the game in the second quarter. His 29-yard touchdown run with three minutes left in the first quarter gave DeMatha a 10-0 lead.
For the Stags, history is repeating itself. But even when they lost McFarland and Turner in 2015, and McFarland again in 2016, DeMatha went on to win the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference title.
Granted, DeMatha doesn’t have that kind of depth it does in years past, when they had Khory Spruill, Miree and Lloyd to lean on in 2016 when McFarland went down, and then Lorenzo Harrison and Spruill the year before that.
Lloyd is considered as the top running back prospect in the Class of 2020, and the ninth-best player overall in the class, according to 247sports. He currently holds offers Kentucky, Maryland Rutgers and Virginia Tech. As a freshman in 2016, Lloyd ran for 319 yards and six touchdowns on 33 carries.
A few weeks ago, Brooks called Lloyd “the most explosive back that I’ve seen come through [at DeMatha]” and tossed around Reggie Bush comparisons.
“Never coached a back like him,” Brooks told 247sports. “You will be hard-pressed to find another sophomore or junior back better. Most explosive back to come through DeMatha the last 20 years.”
“If you remember Reggie Bush at USC, he’s like that, but [Marshawn] is 210.”
RELATED: Meet MarShawn Lloyd, DeMatha’s next running back sensation
DeMatha will most likely turn to junior tailback Myles Miree to shoulder the load. Miree mustered 31 yards on 13 carries Friday and ran for over 700 yards a year ago. He also caught the game-winning touchdown pass in the 2016 WCAC title game against St. John’s (D.C.). Dominic Logan-Nealy, a 5-foot-8 junior, could be next in line to see carries.
Led by quarterback Ty Lenhart and linemen Austin Fontaine and Evan Gregory (both Maryland commits), the Stags entered this weekend No. 1 our power rankings, sixth nationally by the USA TODAY and 13th nationally by MaxPreps. At this point, it’s all but certain they take a stock hit.
This story will be updated.
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