BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
The Mercedes Tigers (0-1) dropped their season opener to Corpus Christi Calallen 35-7 on Friday night, but they wound up losing a lot more.
Midway through the third quarter, senior linebacker Roger Adame III broke his right arm and was whisked away in an ambulance to a Corpus Christi hospital.
Surgery on Adame III’s right arm was successful, but he is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks of game action.
“Based on the film, Roger was going in for a tackle. The (Calallen) runner spun around on him, and the runner’s momentum took Roger’s arm backwards,” Mercedes coach Roger Adame Jr. said about his son’s injury.
Adame Jr. initially couldn’t tell who was injured from his vantage point on the sideline.
“We didn’t know who it was at first, but you always worry for any of our guys out there,” Adame Jr. said. “So we made the trip out to the field, and all we saw was his legs. Once he got up, I saw it was Roger.
“Especially when you see your son down there, you see everything about him. His goals, his expectations and everything he’s worked for. At that moment, you don’t know exactly what’s happening. You just know that it’s going to be a long journey. It’s a roller coaster of emotions.”
Adame III took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon to update his condition and thank everyone for their prayers and well-wishes. His projected return to the field six weeks from now would be a district road game against Brownsville Pace on Oct. 14, but Adame III’s father wants to take every safety precaution possible beforehand.
“Our trainers do a good job,” Adame Jr. said. “Anytime we have an injured player, they have to go through practices first. Before he practices, he’ll need to be cleared to practice. We’re going to depend on our trainers and doctor to make the decision for me.”