Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 16, 1992 TAG: 9201170321
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
ON SOLID FOOTING AGAIN
NORTH Cross' Marcus Cardwell didn't get to run a single regular-season play in football last fall because of a broken right leg.However, he got the cast off just in time to take his younger brother, Sean, trick or treating on Halloween. More importantly, he got the cast off in time to strengthen his leg for basketball season.
A 5-foot-10, 150-pound sophomore, Cardwell is a three-sport starter for the Raiders with the promise of a bright future. As a freshman, Cardwell earned a starting spot in the defensive backfield for the football team and was a backup running back.
In basketball last year, Cardwell was the team's leading scorer with a 14.0 point average. He is repeating that performance this year with a 13.5 average for an improved North Cross team that was 5-6 going into this week's play.
Cardwell also was a starting outfielder for the Raiders' baseball team last spring.
North Cross coach Jim Muscaro, who coaches all three sports, knew he had a potentially good player when Cardwell came to North Cross from Ruffner Junior High last year.
"A friend of mine taught at Ruffner and told me about him. I knew he'd be a good athlete," said Muscaro. "In football, he has very good potential. He's got breakaway speed if we have a good offensive line for him next year."
Muscaro almost didn't get Cardwell as a freshman for football.
"I sent him a letter to come to early practice, but he never answered it. Then I was walking across campus after school started and he asked if he could come out for the team," said Muscaro.
Muscaro gave an affirmative answer. By midseason, Cardwell was starting at defensive back.
"I don't remember getting a letter, but really I wasn't sure I was coming to North Cross until a week before school started," said Cardwell.
This year, Muscaro figured he might have an explosive runner in the mold of Eric Walker, who rushed for more than 1,500 yards a year as a junior when he made the All-Timesland team. In a scrimmage against Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, Cardwell's sophomore football season came to an abrupt halt.
Cardwell broke both bones in his lower leg through the growth plate.
"It hurt a lot," he said. "But the trainer [from VES] kept telling me it wasn't broken."
Cardwell was taken to a Lynchburg hospital and was told after X-rays that he had indeed broken his leg and would have a cast on it for 12 weeks.
"In Roanoke, the doctor thought he could put a screw in it so I wouldn't be off my leg as long. I was off my crutches by Oct. 31, just in time to take my brother out for Halloween," said Cardwell.
By the time North Cross held its first basketball scrimmage, Cardwell was ready to go. He wasn't at full strength and, even now, isn't back to where he was last year.
"I'd say he's a little more than 75 percent," said Muscaro.
Cardwell said, "My leg felt fine for the first couple of weeks [in basketball]. Then in a scrimmage against James River, I took a charge and fell on my leg. A couple of days later, it started aching in my joints. For a week, I had to ice it down three times a day for 10 minutes."
By the time North Cross went to Greensboro, N.C., for a Christmas tournament, Cardwell said the leg felt much better.
"I could jump off it and it didn't hurt [in the tournament]. I still can't run as fast or jump as high as I did," said Cardwell. "The doctor said that if I keep lifting weights and do a lot of leg exercises, my strength will come back."
How did Cardwell arrive at North Cross?
"It was something my parents wanted me to do," said Cardwell, who would have been a sophomore at William Fleming. "To get away from the trouble in public schools and to get a better education because the classes are smaller.
"I told them I'd go. They said if I didn't like it, I could transfer back. But I've made a lot of friends, and I have a couple of kids [from Ruffner] with me."
The two are Montrice Smith, a middle linebacker and member of the basketball team, and Wally Saunders, who also plays football.
There always is the lure of Group AAA sports at Fleming as opposed to those of the Virginia Independent Conference, a league of small private schools that includes North Cross.
Not for Cardwell, though.
"In football at Fleming, I don't think I would have been given a chance to play on the varsity this soon. I'm not sure about basketball. At William Fleming, I don't think I would have had the confidence to go out for varsity basketball. I don't think I would have been as close to the coaches at Fleming as I am with Coach Muscaro," said Cardwell.
Said Muscaro, "We are quite close. Marcus is a real hustler and we've always gotten along.
"I knew when he came here that he'd be a good basketball player. I just didn't realize he was as good as he is in football."
Muscaro says the prognosis for a full recovery from the broken leg is good and that Cardwell should have an outstanding three-sport career.
"He's better at football and basketball," said Muscaro. "Baseball's not his best sport, but he goes and gets the fly balls. That's why he starts in the outfield."
Cardwell says a coach at Ruffner advised him to go to North Cross for the first couple of years.
"He said maybe playing for a smaller school would give me more confidence [and] that I'd get more playing time than I would at a bigger school where I might not play at all," said the sophomore. "But I won't go back. I've made up my mind to stay here."