Bryant suffers injury in Roosevelt's first loss

The Kent Roosevelt team entered this past Friday with a perfect 3-0 record.

The Rough Riders ended that evening with a loss to visiting Field and one of their star players out with an injury.

Field defeated Roosevelt 31-13 with a dominating performance. Rough Riders senior standout Denerio Bryant was injured late in the second quarter and did not return.

Roosevelt coach John Nemec said Wednesday afternoon that Bryant had yet to get an MRI because the swelling on his knee has not gone down. Nemec said Byrant was definitely out a few weeks and possibly for the remainder of the season.

“He had the ball, he didn’t get touched,” Nemec said. “He turned and went down. It was one of those freak things. He was running a sweep, he planted and then boom he went right down. At first, I wasn’t concerned. I saw some him fall, but I thought he just slipped and fell.”

“It’s a blow. He is a tremendous kid. Our kids will rally. They are a strong willed group. He is there helping out, but other kids have to step up. This kid is the real deal. He is probably one of the best players I have coached and I have been a head coach for 29 years. Having said that, we’re a team and I really believe our kids will rebound.”

Ravenna coach Jim Lunardi said he heard about the injury and felt awful.

“You never want to see that happen to a kid, especially with his being his senior year,” Lunardi said of Bryant. “He is great playmaker for them. My heart goes out to the kid.”

Nemec said the team sustained other injuries. Senior defensive lineman Jordan Bedell left the Field game due to injury and senior middle linebacker Marcus Wright sat out the game with an injury.

“It’s bad enough that we lose the game, but we also lose some player,” Nemec said. “That is like a double whammy. I have to emphasize it’s a team game and our kids will not make excuses and neither will I .We have to buckle up. Our players have to play better and I have to coach better.”

Nemec said there were not many positive to come from the setback to Field. He did say: “We had a lot of young kids get experience against a very good Field team.”

Roosevelt junior quarterback Evan Shimensky rushed for a touchdown and also threw a touchdown pass to sophomore Shakeel Howard.

Nemec said he was impressed by Field’s play.

“They were the superior team on Friday, there is no doubt,” Nemec said.