CIS: Saint Mary’s Huskies quarterback Jack Creighton is done for the season

“It was pretty serious and they kept him on the field for several minutes,” describes Huskies head coach Perry Marchese of the turn of events right after the play.  “They kept him on the field for several minutes and I went out to talk to him.”

“Our trainers were very careful with him.”

Subsequent to that, the trainers performed several tests on Creighton.  Once the tests were completed, they decided not to put him on the board. The day after the game, Creighton did further tests, but the trainers were not sure as they thought it could have been something much more serious.

On Monday, it was decided that the fifth year quarterback needed more tests and yesterday, he was set up for MRI’s, X-Rays and other procedures.  Creighton spent most of the day yesterday at hospital.

Just before the Huskies were set to take the field for practice, Marchese spoke with the young pivot.

“He said it was pretty serious and that it’s a little more than everyone thinks but I didn’t find out anything until late Tuesday night that they found two fractures,” comments the Huskies head coach.  “They were considering doing surgery immediately so he was at the hospital while they were waiting and deciding whether to do the surgery right away or possibly not doing surgery.”

“They sort of came to the conclusion, and this is from Jack, that he’s been walking around and mobile so they thought that surgery wasn’t imminent but they did put him in a neck brace to limit his movement.  They are going to give it a week to see how things settle.”

A heavily sought after recruit nationally during his high school career with Lakeshore Catholic Gators and Team Ontario, Creighton decided to make the move out East and suit up for the Huskies in 2008.  The fifth year pivot led the Huskies to two consecutive Atlantic University Sport Conference Championships in 2008 and 2009.  For his efforts on the field in the 2009 Championship Final, Creighton was named Loney Bowl MVP.

However, the 23 year old quarterback left the Huskies during the 2010 campaign, only to return back the next season.  In 22 games with the team, Creighton has amassed 3,611 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.  At the season opener in Wolfville against the Acadia Axemen, he had 13 completions in 25 attempts and 180 passing yards before bowing out to injury.

As for Creighton’s physical and emotional well-being, Marchese says that he dealing with it well, considering the extent of the injury.

“Jack’s handling it as well as he can for a very serious neck injury,” says Marchese.  “He’s a pretty special guy and its water off a duck’s back with Jack and most everything so he’ll be fine.”

“The extent of the injury and what it may have as an effect on the rest of his life, we don’t know.  Hopefully, there’s not surgery and if they have to do surgery that he recovers fully.”

As a fifth year player in the AUS, since he only played one game, his eligibility to play out his final year may still be intact.  However, that is clearly not what the paramount concern is at this point in time for the Huskies football program.

“We want Jack healthy,” explains Marchese.  “We’re all personally disappointed for Jack because he loves football and we love to have him on the team.”

While the team is disappointed, the coaching staff and players will continue to conduct their business on the field.

“This is just what happens, people get hurt,” adds the Huskies rookie head coach.  “Other people just dress and we go play football.”

“As far as I know, they aren’t cancelling any games or anything so we’re going to go play the heck out of them.  We’ll get other guys ready.  We’re just ready to play football.”

Marchese says that in the game of football, injures are the norm and to be expected each season.

“It’s not the only injury as the AUS has had some season ending injuries,” says Marchese.  “We’ve had a couple of guys with knees and another guy in that game broke his collarbone and is out for the season as well (Huskies linebacker Taylor Pastusiak) who’s out for the season.”

“Its football, it happens.  We went into training camp and we talked to the coaching staff and said “you realize it’s just a matter of time of when and who.”  You know you’re going to have those injuries.  You don’t go through the season without those injuries.”

Now with Creighton sidelines for the remainder of the season, Jean Legault, will be the starting quarterback for the Huskies in this upcoming weekend’s interlock game against the Sherbrooke Vert & Or.  Drew Jacobson from Brooks, Alberta, will be the backup pivot.

“Coincidentally, Jean’s from Sherbrooke so he gets a hometown start away from home,” adds Marchese of the second year pivot.  “We’re going to do our best to get both of them ready.”

There will be a noticeable difference in what Legault will bring onto the field on Saturday versus Creighton’s playing style.

“Jack is more of a pocket type passer who delivers the ball out of the pocket,” describes the Huskies head coach of the differing quarterback styles.  “Jean would be more of the athletic type.”

“I think Jean is capable of both.”

The Huskies head coach, who’s also the offensive coordinator, says that teams build their offenses around their quarterback.  Therefore, the Huskies will have to make some major adjustments with the loss of Creighton’s services.  However, they are confident that Legault will rise to the occasion.

“Jack, Jean and Drew bring different things to the table and it’s a tricky thing to balance,” explains Marchese.  “You want to make sure you are doing enough on offense to challenge the defense but at the end of the day, you do what you’re quarterbacks are capable of.”

“There will be some changes in how we use Jean.  Jean is extremely intelligent.  He’s difficult to coach because he’s smarter than me.”

Even though the severity of Creighton’s injury may put things into perspective for the Huskies, the team presses on, knowing they are fortunate to have the opportunity to play the game.

“We’re just looking forward to playing football,” says Marchese.  “We’re all lucky we get to play and coach it.”

(Photo 2 courtesy of Saint Mary’s Huskies Football Website)
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