Fort Gibson's championship hopes took a big hit on Monday.
Coming off a 44-27 rout of Tahlequah in the first week of the season, the Class 4A No. 4 Tigers had to immediately deal with a horrendous phrase.
"Torn ACL."
And who suffered the season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury? Quarterback J.R. Singleton.
Fort Gibson head coach James Singleton — J.R.'s father — confirmed the news.
"Torn ACL," he said. "Like anything else, your heart goes out to your child, not only as a coach but as a dad."
J.R. Singleton, a 6-foot-1, 198-pound senior signal caller, engineered Fort Gibson's early rally at home against Tahlequah. Down 6-0, Fort Gibson scored and went ahead on Chris Walker's 1-yard touchdown run, and Singleton followed with two touchdown strikes — 40 and 60 yards — both to Jordan London.
Fort Gibson coasted from that point on.
Little did Fort Gibson know, though, that it has already received a crushing blow.
According to James Singleton, J.R. Singleton suffered the knee injury on a simple option play toward the boundary.
"It was kind of a freakish thing how it happened," James Singleton said. "His cleat got caught in the turf when he turned to flip the ball."
J.R. Singleton finished the game with 261 yards and three touchdowns while completing 11 of 14 pass attempts. He also ran for 34 yards on 11 carries. On defense, he had four tackles.
On Monday, J.R. Singleton took to social media after finding out the fateful diagnosis.
"I never thought it would end up this way..." he tweeted. In a separate tweet, he said, "Thank you to everyone for the thoughts and prayers.. You have no idea how much it means to me!"
As for who his starting quarterback will be moving forward, James Singleton said that London and Dylan Murray will compete for the spot.
"Jordan has been taking reps this week, and Dylan has also been taking reps," James Singleton said. "We like what both guys bring to the table."
London is a 6-1, 186-pound senior, and Murray is a 5-11, 163-pound sophomore.
James Singleton said they would determine a starting quarterback on Thursday.
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