By Rich Winter

605 Sports

VERMILLION — Hamlin’s Jackson Wadsworth endured a bumpy ride just to reach Thursday’s Class 9AA championship game. 

In the first quarter of the Chargers semifinal game against Elkton-Lake Benton on Nov. 8, Wadsworth suffered a separated shoulder. Medical staff at the game were unable to put the shoulder back in the socket and the 6-feet-2, 195 pound junior was forced to go to the hospital. 

“At first I was nervous and worried that I wouldn’t be able to come back and play in that game,” Wadsworth said. “When I got to the hospital and saw how serious the injury was I wondered if I’d be able to play in the dome game, if we made it to the dome.”

Wadsworth said he was watching the LiveTicket.Tv broadcast on the phone before he had to be put to sleep so the shoulder could be put back. He woke up just in time.

“I was watching on my phone and then I got drugged up to sleep,” he said. “I turned it back on and it was fourth-and-five. Everyone on the team went out and played for me and got us here to the DakotaDome.” 

When Wadsworth went down in the semifinal game Hamlin coach Jeff Sheehan didn’t panic even though his backup quarterback took just a few snaps during the regular season. 

“It’s not something we really practice for,” Sheehan said. “Injuries happen and we felt really comfortable going to Evan Stormo. He probably took three snaps all year and he was our backup from the beginning of the year. This fall the starting quarterback was between Evan and Jackson so even though we were in a difficult situation I had all the faith in this team.”

Hamlin advanced to Thursday’s Class 9AA championship with that 20-16 win over Elkton-Lake Benton. While the championship berth had been secured Sheehan wasn’t sure his starting quarterback would be taking DakotaDome snaps until Tuesday. 

“We had our orthopedic surgeon who was right on our sidelines come in and check him out,” Sheehan said. “They gave me the thumbs up and I was like okay we’re going to do this. He started throwing the ball on Tuesday just to see if he could and that’s why he was doing what he did today.” 

What Wadsworth did during Thursday’s 32-8 win over Parkston was complete 17-of-22 passes for 216 yards and a touchdown. His favorite target Thursday proved to be last week’s quarterback Stormo who hauled in seven passes for 80 yards.