Tulsa World: Keeping his eye in the contest

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Keeping his eye in the contest
Vision issues do not deter Porter's Myers.

Porter senior Derick Myers has 12 receptions for 291 yards and six touchdowns this season. JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World

By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
Published: 11/20/2009 2:20 AM
Last Modified: 11/20/2009 9:14 AM

PORTER — With the outcome of a first-round playoff game in doubt, the Porter Pirates chose the opposite of playing it safe: Quarterback Marcus Scarborough lofted a deep ball to a vision-impaired tight end.

Senior Derick Myers referred to himself as a "one-eyed player." He's got two eyes, but he impaled his left eye on a knob when he wrecked his pickup truck midway through last season. Multiple surgeries later, his eyesight remains foggy.

"It's like when you go to the lake or river and you open your eyes underneath the water," Myers said. "It's all red and murky. That's what it looks like."

And this is who Porter coach Ron Coppedge trusted to catch a ball after Weleetka cut an 18-point Porter lead to two in the fourth quarter.

"When the game is on the line, we are going to put it in the hands of our senior who has been in this situation before," Coppedge said.

Myers said safeties charged up on a second-and-1 play, so he adjusted a route and ran a "go" pattern. Myers reeled in a 32-yard touchdown pass to secure the first football playoff victory in Porter history.

Follow high school football long enough and you will see everything, including a postseason hero who doesn't see everything.

But it is because Myers wanted to have a chance for at least one shining moment that he worked hard to get back on the field.

Porter's offense is run-heavy, but Myers has 12 receptions for 291 yards and six touchdowns for the unbeaten Pirates, who play host to Canton in a quarterfinal game.

Myers said he fell asleep at the wheel following a "fifth quarter" postgame church outing last season. His truck veered into a culvert, clipped a tree and rolled onto its side. When an air bag inflated, Myers said his head ricocheted into the truck door.

Myers was bloody and woozy (the left side of his face was basically "broken" in the accident) when he climbed out of the truck. He didn't realize how damaged his swelled eye was until, while waiting for paramedics, a former teammate "opened it for me against my will." The eye was completely black.

"A couple of days after that, when I finally got in a right state of mind, I thought I was done for," Myers said.

What does Myers mean by that? "I figured I would be a lineman," he said. "Playing guard, that just didn't sound good to me."

Myers has nothing against blocking. In fact, Coppedge said Porter missed Myers' blocking in a first-round playoff loss last season. But linemen never get any "ball action" or glory, according to Myers. He worked overtime to re-learn how to catch footballs.

"My timing was off at first," he said. "I didn't know when to grab for it. I would grab for it and it wouldn't be there yet. It would hit me in the hands when they were closed."

Now Myers believes he is as close to normal as he can get, although he lacks peripheral vision.

"We stuck him right back in there where he was comfortable at and he has done a terrific job for us all year long," Coppedge said.

Myers intends to undergo laser surgery in an attempt to upgrade his vision. He said he broke his iris in half when he wrecked and said "nothing was really where it was supposed to be." After corrective surgery, a second surgery was necessary to remove fluid. Needles were involved.

Was it worth enduring that to take part in a historic locker room celebration?

"It was worth all those practices I stayed out there and caught balls and everything," he said. "It was well worth it."

Jimmie Tramel 581-8389
jimmie.tramel@tulsaworld.com By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer

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