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S PORTS S PORTS S PORTS Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012 | Sports Editor: Joe Wilson | 270-887-3260 | [email protected] B1 Kentucky adds quality, quantity on signing day A disappointing 2011 campaign for the University of Kentucky football team ended with optimism last fall. While the Wildcats stumbled to a 5-7 fin- ish, including a 2-6 mark in Southeastern Conference play, and failed to qualify for a postseason bowl for the first time since 2005, Kentucky defeated Tennessee 10-7 in the season finale. The win snapped the Wildcats’ 26-game losing streak to the rival Volunteers. But then, as the high from the win began to subside, reality crept in for head coach Joker Phillips and his staff. Two-time first-team All-SEC linebacker Danny Trevathan, who led the team and the conference in tackles for the second straight season in 2011, is gone. Safety/line- backer Winston Guy Jr., another leader and all-conference staple on the Kentucky de- fense, also has run out of eligibility. The Wildcats have to replace all three starting lineback- ers and have a plethora of needs in the defensive secondary. On the offensive side, Matt Roark, a receiver who filled in at quarterback against Tennessee after both Morgan Newton and Maxwell Smith were sidelined with injuries, FOOD FOR THOUGHT KEITH JENKINS n NATIONAL SIGNING DAY SEE FOOD, PAGE B3 LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Quarterback Patrick Towles is the headliner for Ken- tucky’s signees as the Wild- cats filled all 25 spots in the incoming recruiting class within a few hours during national signing day. Towles, Kentucky’s 2011 Mr. Football, completed 171 of 279 passes as a senior for 3,820 yards, 42 touchdowns and one interception. He led Highlands High School to three straight state champi- onships. Head coach Joker Phillips secured Towles’ ver- bal commit- ment last April and stayed in t o u c h throughout the quarter- back’s sen- ior season as offers from other schools flooded in. Towles headlines UK recruiting class INTERNET PHOTO Highlands quarterback and 2011 Kentucky Mr. Football Patrick Towles signed a national leter of intent Wednesday to play at Kentucky. INSIDE: More from national signing day B3 SEE UK, PAGE B3 IN THIS SECTION TV B4 ASK AMY B4 MY ANSWER B4 THAT’S THE TICKET! B5 COMICS B6 CLASSIFIEDS B7 PREP Girls’ Basketball CHRISTIAN CO. AT HOPKINSVILLE 7:30 P.M. COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEMO AT MURRAY ST. 7 P.M. TENNESSEE TECH AT AUSTIN PEAY 7 P.M. COLLEGE BASKETBALL MARIST AT MANHATTAN 7 P.M. DUKE AT VIRGINIA TECH 6 P.M. NBA CHICAGO AT NEW YORK 7 P.M. DENVER AT L.A. CLIPPERS 9:30 P.M. COLLEGE BASKETBALL CONNECTICUT 44 GEORGETOWN 58 GEORGIA 51 AUBURN 59 NBA MIAMI 97 MILWAUKEE 105 WASHINGTON 103 ORLANDO 109 TODAY’S GAMES TOP SCORES BY JOE WILSON NEW ERA SPORTS EDITOR Winning on the high school wrestling mat can be measured in inches. For University Heights Acad- emy grappler Colton Hall, so is breathing. Hall is fortunate to be alive after he was critically injured in a four-wheeler accident in 2009. While riding with his friend, Colton Bumpus near the Dogwood-Kelly Road in Christian County, the then 14-year-old Hall made a critical mistake that left him clinging to life at Van- derbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., for a week. “I was riding on a four- wheeler and my friend had stopped in front of me,” Hall said. “I wasn’t paying attention and I turned around and tried to swerve. My wheel caught his and I flipped and landed on the pavement. The four-wheeler landed on top of me.” He doesn’t recall much of the next six days he spent at the hospital. He doesn’t remember fighting with emergency personnel at the scene because of three large skull fractures despite a broken left arm. He doesn’t remember the helicopter rides to Nashville. The first helicopter stopped in Clarksville, Tenn., with problems and another helicopter had to pick him up there and fly him to his Nashville desti- nation. “That was hard on me,” said his mother Betty Hall, who works in the trauma unit at Jennie Stuart Medical Center. “I know enough that we should have been about 30 or 40 minutes behind him and when we got to Vanderbilt, they didn’t know any- thing. They told us his helicopter had stopped at Gateway (Clarksville). I know that usually if they stop that means the patient has coded (died).” Colton didn’t die on the helicopter, but doctors weren’t sure if he would recover from his injuries. He had three major skull fractures, multiple facial fractures, a fractured C-1 vertebra in his neck and a compound fracture in his left arm. Doctors also believed he had severed his cerebral artery, the main artery feeding blood to the brain. Betty could only sit and wait. She wondered what their future would be like. “At night I had visions of spoon feeding him for the rest of my life,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going to go on. And he’s just perfect now. I’m so proud of him when he goes to wrestle.” A junior at UHA, Hall is a medical miracle. Despite the three major skull fractures, doctors said there was no internal bleeding associated with them. It turns out he did not sever his cere- bral artery, but a vein, which was much less criti- cal. “They (doctors) took him back for another CAT scan a few days later and instead of the artery, it was the vein,” Betty Hall said. “It was the width of a hair for what could have been life or death for him. It was just amazing.” Because of the head and especially the neck in- juries, doctors told Colton he was done with all contact sports, including his favorite, wrestling. But he wouldn’t settle for that. “They had fear that I would re-break my head or re-break my neck,” Colton said. “They said I was done for life. It was sad. I had just started my first season here (UHA). I was going into my freshman year.” Colton began a physical therapy and UHA wrestling coach Doug Willen kept in contact with the family. By November, Colton was feeling better. After a series tests, doctors cleared him to wrestle. Five months after nearly being killed, Colton Off the mat University Heights grappler defies odds, finds wrestling success “At night I had visions of spoon feeding him for the rest of my life. I didn’t know what was going to go on. And he’s just perfect now. I’m so proud of him when he goes to wrestle.” Betty Hall Mother of UHA’s Colton Hall n JOE WILSON | KENTUCKY NEW ERA University Heighs Academy wrestler Colton Hall (top) grapples with Hopkinsville’s Robert Bussell during a match earlier this season at Blazer Gym. Hall has found success on the mat this season after suffering critical injuries in a four-wheeler accident in 2009. SEE HALL, PAGE B3 g Defending champion UConn falls again SPORTS B2 Hoptown swimmers dive in Tuesday SPORTS B3
