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Mission Viejo football coach Chad Johnson hoped wide receiver Vance Spafford would return from injury for the playoffs but that will not happen, Johnson said on Sunday.
And the injury to the speedy senior is not the only health concern for Orange County’s top-ranked team as it prepares to face Mater Dei in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs on Friday, Nov. 14.
Defensive lineman JD Hill left the Diablos’ game early against Los Alamitos in Week 10 with an injury while cornerback Jeron Jones didn’t play because of a knee injury, Johnson said.
Jones, who is committed to Washington, was injured against Edison in Week 9, Johnson said.
“We might not have either JD Hill or Jeron Jones,” said Johnson, whose squad is 9-1 and seeded sixth in Division 1.
“You play the schedule that we (played) with all the great teams, toward the end of the year, guys are going to get banged up.”
“And our depth is not what a lot of Trinity League teams have,” the coach added.
Johnson said Spafford will miss the remainder of the season with an ankle injury.
The Miami commit re-injured his ankle against Chaparral on Sept. 26 after first sustaining the injury in a season-opening victory against Santa Margarita, the coach said.
“Not the senior year he wanted to have,” Johnson said of Spafford. “That goes all the way back to having (an illness in) the summer. The poor kid has had one thing after another.”
“It (stinks),” the coach added. “I feel bad for him.”
Spafford earned first-team All-County honors as a sophomore and junior.
Spafford tallied a combined 140 receptions for 2,593 yards and 36 touchdowns in 2023-24. Injuries limited him to 15 catches for 213 yards and one score this fall.
Third-seeded Mater Dei (7-2) has encountered its share of injuries. The Monarchs played against St. John Bosco in Week 10 without several players, including Georgia committed wide receiver Gavin Honore.
Mission Viejo won the Alpha League while Mater Dei earned a share of the title in the Trinity League.
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