[9/05/01] One game into a promising senior year, Warren Central receiver Kacy Jones suffered a broken leg in practice to end his high school football career.

Jones, a 5-foot-9, 165-pounder, was the Vikings’ top receiver last year and he was expected to make a formidable combination with Mississippi State-bound quarterback Brett Morgan this year.

“I can’t explain” how bad it feels knowing “I’m going to miss my senior season,” Jones said from his hospital room this morning.

Jones, who was on pain medication, said he made a catch, “spun, then slipped in the mud and a bunch of people fell on top” of his right leg Tuesday in practice.

“It didn’t hurt at first,” he said, but “I went into shock when I saw it.”

He said the bone was sticking out, just below the shin.

Jones, a senior who led the team with 15 receptions for 268 yards and three touchdowns last season, was taken by ambulance to Parkview Regional Medical Center.

He was set to be released today after undergoing surgery.

“He broke it in two places,” his grandmother, Alice Jones, said this morning. “He’s got a cast on his hip, all the way down.”

WC assistant coaches refused to comment after the practice ended around 6 p.m. They referred all questions to head coach Robert Morgan, who rode with Jones to the hospital and was still at the hospital Tuesday night.

He did not return calls last night or this morning.

Jones caught two passes for 39 yards in Friday’s 15-10 loss to Wayne County in the season-opening Red Carpet Bowl.

Alice Jones said she was “shocked” when she got the call he was being taken to the hospital.

“I just started talking to the Lord,” she said. “Coach Morgan was up here with us and he was crying, too. … He said, You sure talked to the right one.’

“I know he’s going to be fine.”