Tristan Hyde probably doesn’t need to wear that knee brace anymore.
The Strawberry Crest signal-caller knows it, too. He says he’s been able to cut at full speed since June or July. Still, he insists on wearing it, just in case. And, that brace has a direct tie to the Friday, Sept. 12 game against Leon High School.
The Lions were the Chargers’ opponents when Hyde suffered the injury that snatched away his junior season.
“I thought I could go back in, but the coaches were like, ‘No, we want to get it checked out. It’s not a district game, and we want to make sure you don’t damage it more,’” Hyde says. “I’m glad I didn’t play, because they said that, if I did play, and I hurt it again, I might never have gotten to play football again.”
An ACL tear is one of any athlete’s biggest fears, especially when it’s early in a season. It’s an injury that really lingers in the mind for a year, and Hyde can recall every minute detail of the moments leading up to the injury.
“Basically, we had a safety over the middle,” Hyde says. “He cheated to our trips side — we had a three-by-one formation — and I was checking to a fade on the back side. We wanted to get one with our best receiver.
“As I was checking the play, the center unexpectedly snapped the ball, so I had to run out of the pocket,” he said. “No one really blocked, so I had a bunch of guys coming at me. As I threw it, I kind of threw it out of bounds and landed on my heel. It hyperextended, and that was that.”
Like Aaron Murray, in his senior season at Plant High School, it was a leg injury that Hyde initially thought he could play through. He was replaced by Austin Carswell during his rehabilitation process but never even missed a practice. Being relegated up on the sideline was tough, but Hyde didn’t want to miss anything.
“It was definitely hard,” he says.
Another challenge was the physical rehab itself. After a successful surgery, performed by USF surgeon Dr. David Leffers, Hyde worked twice a week with physical therapist Kevin Murdoch to get his strength back and also with his coaches in the offseason.
“It was a few months of therapy, twice a week, and doing it on my own in between then, with stuff that my therapist told me to do,” Hyde says. “This summer was just hard work — I was up every morning with coach (Keith) Newman, working hard, getting back right, and coming out to training camp and doing everything I possibly could to make sure it’s solid.”
Newman, who was the Chargers’ defensive coordinator in 2013, helped Hyde get ready to step onto the field with mobilization and stability exercises. He gradually helped Hyde work on his running and his cuts, until the senior felt comfortable doing it without the brace.
“They say to just wear the brace, because you want to make sure (the knee is) good,” Hyde says. “They say that you don’t feel comfortable until it’s been a year, and it’ll be a year next week.”
If he’s not comfortable, then he’s doing a good job of hiding it. Hyde’s already been forced to scramble a few times on the field and has taken some hits. But, so far, he has been able to take everything thrown at him. He’s confident, his coaches are confident in him, and it’s possible that no one is more excited to run out of the tunnel on Friday night.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
MATCH-UPS
GAME OF THE WEEK
Last week’s game against Spoto may have ended with an “L” in the win-loss column, but it was a much better outing for Strawberry Crest than Week 1.
The Chargers (0-2; 0-0 district) jumped out to a 15-6 lead over the Spartans (2-0; 0-0 district) in the first quarter, but the lead changed hands in all of the following quarters. A late rally allowed Spoto to take control in the fourth, and Crest just didn’t have an answer.
It’s not like this team hasn’t had any bright spots so far, though. Senior Arjay Smith has scored 18 of the Chargers’ 29 total points so far, and junior linebacker Jordan Zilbar has stepped up to lead the team in tackles (21) and fumble recoveries (3).
Leon (1-1; 0-0 district) is coming off of its first win of the year, a 28-7 win at Rickards High School. Having lost to the Raiders by a score of 42-14 in 2013, the Lions sure do seem like a different team this year. Chargers head coach John Kelly chalks much of that up to improved play from their dual-threat quarterback, D’Anfernee McGriff.
Having come so close to picking up a win last Friday, the Chargers are determined to turn things around tonight.
DURANT AT TAMPA BAY TECH
Because the Plant City Raiders have a bye week, the only other Sept. 12 game will be Durant’s road outing at Tampa Bay Tech.
The Cougars (1-1; 0-0 district) are coming off a mostly dominating win over Sickles and will go into this game with tons of momentum. Tech (1-0; 0-0 district) is coming off of its bye week, after a 25-17 win over the winless Newsome Wolves fueled by safety Marchalo Judge’s pick-six.
It appears to be the kind of game that Durant could win, if Tech’s stats against Newsome are any indication. The passing game mostly floundered, and the ground game — which netted just 134 yards — was responsible for most of the Titans’ scoring.
If the Cougars can contain senior Deon Cain like they did Isaac Holder and Ray Ray McCloud III last week, then there’s a pretty good chance that they hop on the bus to go home with a 2-1 record.
All games begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted:
SEPT. 12
Durant at Tampa Bay Tech; 6410 Orient Road, Tampa
Plant City: BYE
Leon at Strawberry Crest; 4691 Gallagher Road, Dover; 7 p.m.
SEPT. 19
Plant City at Durant; 4748 Cougar Path, Plant City
Strawberry Crest at Brandon; 1101 Victoria St., Brandon