Horrific injury doesn\'t deter Papa from return to field
August 29, 2010 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365
Sam Papa is an outstanding football player. A better-than-average basketball player. He is not, however, a gymnast.
When Papa unintentionally became a contortionist last October, it cost him the final month of football and all of basketball for his junior year.
The unfortunate play that felled Papa from the athletic field took place in the heat of battle with Mountain Pointe in one of the more exciting games of the season. When Papa went down, so did the volume of the tense 5A East Valley Region game, won by a then unbeaten Mountain Pointe, 35-34.
"It happened the last four or five minutes of the fourth quarter," Papa recalled. They had a big fullback coming at me to block. I knew I had to get real low to hit him. I ended up doing the splits."
The result for Papa - a dislocated left hip. It was nearly five hours after the fateful play that Papa's hip was popped back into place. Not the best feeling for any athlete.
"He ended up with nerve damage in the leg," Desert Ridge coach Jeremy Hathcock said. "But he's worked tirelessly getting back to the field. A lot of work was done for the nerves and muscles. Our trainer has been very aggressive with him rehabbing it."
Papa has spent the last seven months rehabbing. The first four or five with the upper leg and the muscles and nerves, the last two concentrating on the ankle. Hathcock figures Papa is at about 90 percent of his ability heading into the season.
When the season opened Friday night for Desert Ridge at Mesquite, Hathcock gladly accepted that level of readiness with Papa.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound linebacker-receiver played in a game for for the first time in 10 1/2 months on Friday night. He delivered a decent night's work. He was in on six tackles and made three plays in succession -- a couple tackles and a pass deflection late in the second period.
"The rehab was long and it was kind of tough," Papa said. "I think other people were more worried if I could come back or not. Deep down for some reason, I knew I'd come back.
Hathcock's recipe for Papa this season is to let him play full tilt on defense and limit him offense. In Friday's game at Mesquite, Papa played on offense just a handful of plays. All those came in the second half. He did not have a catch.
"He still has some fatigue in the leg," Hathcock said. "But he has no fear issues. I can tell you that. By the fourth or fifth game we hope to have him out there fulltime."
Papa is comfortable with Hathcock's plan. He won't push his coach on it, at least not yet.
"It's easier not going both ways fulltime," Papa said. "I'll be fresher on defense. Hopefully as the season goes on I'll get more time back on offense. I'm just happy to be out there again."
