WINFIELD, W.Va. -- With Winfield senior Steven Gaydosz lying on the ground after suffering a severe ankle injury during a summer practice in mid June, he had only one thought.
While Winfield Coach Willie Wilson didn't know what was going on inside Gaydosz' head, he certainly knew the answer.
What Gaydosz feared, Wilson knew, and the result was a broken ankle for the Generals' 6-foot-2, 215-pound running back coming off a season in which he ran for 850 yards last season.
"It hurt real bad, but the one thing running through my head was it can't be broken, it's my senior year," Gaydosz said. "The pain wasn't getting to me. It was my thoughts."
"I'm an athletic trainer," Wilson said. "He was the optimist. But I knew it was broke. I knew. I just knew. I knew exactly what it was."
During a play in one of the Generals' practice, Gaydosz was trying to block a teammate when his ankle got tangled up with a few players, rolled and snapped, forcing the clean break.
While finding out his season wouldn't have to end despite the severe injury, Gaydosz has had to put in a lot of work and rehab. He is expected to return in week two and, if all goes well, maybe week one.
"I had to have surgery and after getting through that, my rehab has excelled a lot," Gaydosz said. "I'm coming around a lot better than they thought I would.
"They said I could come back in six to eight weeks. I don't want to come back too early and re-injure it, but I'm also hoping to get back to action sooner than they thought."
Gaydosz has been rehabbing at Teays Physical Therapy. For the most part, his full range of motion already is back. The 17-year-old does have a scar on his ankle after having multiple screws and pins inserted.
WINFIELD, W.Va. -- With Winfield senior Steven Gaydosz lying on the ground after suffering a severe ankle injury during a summer practice in mid June, he had only one thought.
While Winfield Coach Willie Wilson didn't know what was going on inside Gaydosz' head, he certainly knew the answer.
What Gaydosz feared, Wilson knew, and the result was a broken ankle for the Generals' 6-foot-2, 215-pound running back coming off a season in which he ran for 850 yards last season.
"It hurt real bad, but the one thing running through my head was it can't be broken, it's my senior year," Gaydosz said. "The pain wasn't getting to me. It was my thoughts."
"I'm an athletic trainer," Wilson said. "He was the optimist. But I knew it was broke. I knew. I just knew. I knew exactly what it was."
During a play in one of the Generals' practice, Gaydosz was trying to block a teammate when his ankle got tangled up with a few players, rolled and snapped, forcing the clean break.
While finding out his season wouldn't have to end despite the severe injury, Gaydosz has had to put in a lot of work and rehab. He is expected to return in week two and, if all goes well, maybe week one.
"I had to have surgery and after getting through that, my rehab has excelled a lot," Gaydosz said. "I'm coming around a lot better than they thought I would.
"They said I could come back in six to eight weeks. I don't want to come back too early and re-injure it, but I'm also hoping to get back to action sooner than they thought."
Gaydosz has been rehabbing at Teays Physical Therapy. For the most part, his full range of motion already is back. The 17-year-old does have a scar on his ankle after having multiple screws and pins inserted.
After realizing his ankle was broke but his season wasn't over, Gaydosz had other thoughts on his mind, namely the impact the injury would have on his team.
"When I broke my ankle, it was rough for me," Gaydosz said. "It also went through my mind about my team. We all rely on one another. I know if it happened to anyone else, everyone else would feel the same.
"One of our dreams as a team, as a whole, is we want to win a state championship. We want to go to the playoffs. We want to be a threat."
Gaydosz has been a dual threat to defenses the past three seasons, and Wilson knows he has a special talent who catches as well as he runs in the Generals' offense.
"When he is 100 percent healthy, we will have to assess what he can do," Wilson said. "He's a good athlete. Any position we put him at, he's good at. We could put him at tackle, and he'd still play well."
Gaydosz's perseverance has impressed Wilson.
"I think Steve is the hardest working kid we got," he said. "He is driven. I think he will be 100 percent at least by game two.
"This injury really has been a turning point for him. If he didn't want to, he could easily back off, and he hasn't. He really wants to play."
Wilson said Gaydosz has a chance to continue his career at the next level.
"I get a stack of mail on him every day," Wilson said, holding up letters from colleges football programs interested in Gaydosz. "He's going to find his way. If he wants to play football, he's going to play football. He will play."
