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Kaneland's Swithers plays through torn ACL, inspires teammates

Isaac Swithers pushed through pain, doctors' recommendations, his parents' wishes and maybe even challenged rational thought to finish his senior football season at Kaneland.

The lure of high school sports is that strong.

On Kaneland's second offensive play of the season Aug. 29 at home against Brooks, the Knights senior running back took a pitch left, planted his left foot and felt the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee pop as it tore.

The 5-foot-9, 175-pound Swithers lay on the grass screaming, pain blanking out even the awareness that he'd fumbled the ball. Thus went the season for the two-year, two-way starter, over before it really began.

Not so fast.

Eventually, he was able to get up and hobble off the field.

"That wasn't so bad," he thought.

So Swithers went back in the second half, running the ball 3 more times for 15 total yards and playing safety on defense in a 30-8 Kaneland victory.

"I thought he was going to be OK because he went in the second half and played really well, so I thought no way could he have torn an ACL," said Knights coach Tom Fedderly, who had Swithers as a team captain along with fellow seniors Kyle Diehl, Zach Douglas, Danny Hammermeister and the coach's son, Connor Fedderly.

Saturday morning Swithers' knee was swollen and he couldn't walk. Later that week he had an MRI and, yep, torn left ACL.

"I was thinking I still might be able to play if it was torn, because I was able to go back in," said Swithers, who was in the process of being recruited by Grand Valley State, St. Cloud State, a bunch of Division III colleges and even Florida, he said. All wanted to see game film.

Not so fast.

His parents, Julaine and Steve, wanted to quickly schedule surgery. This past spring Isaac ran on a pair of relay teams that reached the Class 2A finals at the boys state track meet, and he was planning on running again.

"Everything happens for a reason," Swithers recalled the train of thought at the time.

His physician didn't recommend his return to football this fall. Isaac couldn't let it go. The worst that could happen if he played on it, he said, was the knee bones roughing up the meniscus, causing him future pain. He'd seen others play with similar problems, right on Kaneland's field.

"I felt like I was letting a lot of people down," he said.

"He wanted to go out on his own terms," Fedderly said.

Swithers cajoled and pleaded his case again to his parents. Realizing how much it meant and convinced no further structural damage could result, they relented and pushed back the surgery. That was scheduled for this past Thursday, which Isaac said will allow him to return to track in April.

After missing the next two games, Swithers returned Sept. 19 against Yorkville. Wearing a tight, uncomfortable brace on the left knee and unable to do much high-stepping with that leg, on 13 carries he gained 44 yards, scored 2 touchdowns, and added 11 more yards on a pair of pass receptions.

"Everybody has their little 'owies' and bumps and bruises, and then they see him playing with a torn ACL," Fedderly said. "So the kids just had a ton of respect for him, and to watch and see what he was doing out there, that was pretty inspirational."

The coach said he pared down the playbook a little for him, utilizing Swithers more on straight-ahead runs than those pitches to the perimeter. With each week the 17-year-old gained more confidence in what he could do, and more comfortable in the brace. When he proved he could sustain the impact of the shuttle-like movements required of a defensive back, he returned to safety.

Swithers took his share of hits, and the knee still hurt, but Fedderly said he never mentioned it.

Swithers caught 2 passes for 85 yards including a 55-yard touchdown pass Week 8 against LaSalle-Peru. By the time the regular-season finale came up Oct. 24 at home against Rochelle, "it didn't feel like I had a torn ACL," he said.

His numbers didn't look like it, either. In his last prep game he ran 10 times for 122 yards with touchdown runs of 3 and 32 yards.

"I had a big smile on my face after Rochelle, I was so happy with how it ended," Swithers said.

He finished the season with 51 carries for 306 yards and 5 touchdowns, and 10 receptions for 143 yards and 1 touchdown. He still was "mad" at getting injured, at not being 100 percent, and he sure didn't like the Knights' 4-5 record that ended a six-year playoff streak.

But he didn't let anyone down. And what he'll take from this season will be a little bit of knee ligament and a lot of camaraderie.

"The season didn't really go the way we wanted it to, there were a lot of close games that we lost," Swithers said. "The practice with the guys, I really liked (that). I really like being around those guys, they're awesome."

Congrats

In all the hubbub we'd neglected to note an area graduate had been inducted into Augustana University's "Tribe of Vikings Hall of Fame" on Oct. 11. Among the nine new inductees was Cherie Peterson, of St. Charles East.

Now Cherie Peterson Clark, she graduated from St. Charles High School in 1997 and figured on simply playing basketball at Augustana - which she did, earning four letters and all-conference honors.

A classmate convinced he to try out for soccer as a sophomore. Peterson went on to become a two-time Vikings MVP and a three-time College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin all-conference selection. She still holds Augie's top three single-season goal and points records after starting off with a team record 26 goals, topping that with 34 as a junior and then 19 as a senior. As a junior she led the country in points with 74, and with Augustana her goals and points records lead the runners-up by 28 and 554, respectively.

Married with three children and living in Moline, Peterson Clark is an assistant coach in Augustana's women's soccer program.

Also, Aurora Christian graduate Amanda Talley was among six people inducted into the North Central College Athletic Hall of Fame on Oct. 18. She was a four-year selection to the all-CCIW softball team and remains North Central's only player to earn National Fastpitch Coaches Association all-regional.

A middle infielder who graduated from North Central in 2001, Talley was voted the CCIW player of the year as a sophomore after leading the conference in hits, doubles, runs batted-in and batting average. That year she set the Cardinals single-season record for RBI with 48. As a senior she set the current records for hits with 66 and games with 56, leading North Central to its first Division III National Championships, where it finished fifth.

Talley stands as North Central's career leader in hits (209), RBI (138) and at-bats (568), helping the Cardinals to 136 wins and three CCIW championships.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1

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