Gavin Morrisey: From Concussion to State
In the Galloway Boys Varsity Soccer match against Mount Paran on March 27th, senior Gavin Morrisey experienced a severe head collision. The game started great for Galloway, as during the first half the team took a 1-0 lead. Gavin, who started the game at center back and is responsible for not letting the opposing team score, had barely let the opposition have a chance at goal. As the end of the first half approached, and Gavin headed for a 50/50 battle to win a ball, his head collided with an opposition player. He had to be taken out of the game, and Athletic Trainer Hannah Johnson did not let him back in. The game ended, and the Scots won in penalties due to heroics from Goalkeeper Josh Layton, but there was still a sour taste in the teams’ mouth as it was clear that Gavin’s injury was bad. Gavin stated, “I didn’t have many symptoms, but I was mainly just not feeling myself, and I was not thinking straight.”
A few days following the game, Gavin suffered very strong swelling on his face, and he was “really feeling the concussion.” He visited a doctor who told him he had a fractured nose, a fractured orbital, and a grade 2 concussion. In addition, he would unfortunately miss the rest of the soccer season. In those seven games, his presence was very clearly missed as the team struggled to adjust to life without one of their most important players. In high school soccer, being a physical player is very important due to the lack of technical ability among most players. Gavin is probably the most physical player on the field, and the team definitely missed his physical presence in the back line during his absence. In addition, in the classroom Gavin dealt with several constraints. He missed several days of school, and he couldn’t look at screens for too long which is very important in the classroom today. After dealing with the pain of his injuries and missing seven games of soccer, Gavin was finally ready to play again. The soccer team headed to Augusta to play Aquinas in their state game.
The game started off rough for the soccer team and Gavin, as they gave up two quick goals in the first ten minutes. Gavin gave up a penalty himself and admitted, “In those first ten minutes I did not play good enough; I felt overwhelmed during the beginning of the game, and I didn’t play up to the standards I expect myself to.” The Scots fell down 2-0, and it seemed that the state run was over just as soon as it started. However, as the second half neared to an end, Senior JB Clark pounced on a mistake from the Aquinas goalkeeper and scored from 30 yards out; suddenly the Scots were back in it. The team fought valiantly throughout the game, especially Gavin, who seemed to win every aerial duel. However, the pinnacle of Gavin’s performance came in the second half when he cleared the ball off the goal line with his head to prevent Aquinas from adding a third. Unfortunately the final score was 2-1, but considering Galloway was the 25 seed, and Aquinas was the 8 seed, and not a single lower seed won in the first round of the playoffs, it was a phenomenal performance.
Gavin seemed to win every single header he went up for, despite just coming back from a concussion. He was one of the best players of the day, and he didn’t let the beginning of the game bring him down. Speaking about his symptoms following the game, Gavin stated, “Going up for all those headers made me feel really dizzy, and kind of nauseous. To be honest I just wanted to sleep on the way back.” Gavin literally put his head on the line to help the team, and despite the team's loss, he played an incredible game.