How an innovative surgery and a new sport helped a Washington football captain's recovery

WASHINGTON — Eli Papis used resiliency and strength to overcome injury and return to the Washington football team. He got some help from an innovative surgery and a new sport, as well.

The senior linebacker broke his ankle on Sept. 23 of last season during a Week 5 matchup with Limestone and missed the remainder of his junior season. Weeks later, on Oct. 10, Papis had a plate installed in his foot during a procedure called "TightRope" surgery, in which doctors use a flexible plastic cord to restore the position of the bones as opposed to traditional rigid screws. It shortens recovery time.

Papis still missed his wrestling season while going through intensive rehab all of last winter. In March, Papis took up the sport of lacrosse for the first time and was part of a Panthers team that finished 16-4 and made the sectional championship game.

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“I thought the right opportunity was missing wrestling season because of the football season," Papis said. "I tried lacrosse, because one of my teammates Kainon McQueary plays lacrosse and I got into that to get my strength back in my foot and range of motion back up.

"That really strengthened my ankle a lot, and that was a really big part going into this football season.”

The 6-foot, 220-pound captain is back stronger than ever for Washington (10-1), which faces host Chatham Glenwood (8-3) in the Class 6A state quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Saturday. Papis is surrounded by an outstanding defensive core, which includes fellow linebackers Eli Baer and Jase Harlan and the line of Garrett Cox, Carter Prina, Noah Bell and Robert Martin.

“When I was recovering from last season I did a lot of speed movement, and it worked really well to help me become a quick linebacker," Papis said. "Jase (Harlan) is the muscle, and I’m the speedy kid who can shoot to any window very fast from the backside."

Eli’s father, Eddie Papis, is the head coach of sports performance at Bradley University. His expertise helped Eli get the tools he needed during the recovery process. Eddie compared Eli’s injury to the one suffered by Bradley men’s basketball center Ari Boya during the 2020-21 season.

“My dad has made sure that I do a lot of the right things and has helped guide me in the weight room my whole high school career. It really helped after the injury that I was able to recover a lot of leg muscle and upper body strength,” Papis said. “At Bradley, they have a really good facility for recovery. I did a lot of leg compression, and I’m fully recovered safe to say.”

Papis knew he wanted to play football since he started JFL at Washington. He never lost contact with his teammates, and it quickly formed a "brotherhood," with the Panthers now led by 27 seniors during coach Darrell Crouch's 19th and final season with the team. Papis is extremely motivated to help his team ultimately reach the state championship game at the end of this month.

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“We are feeling really good,” said Papis. “Offensively, our guys have a lot of confidence and our defense as always is really good. We have high spirits in the locker room and we are fired up.”

Crouch has been extremely impressed with his defense, which has only allowed 94 points for the season. The Panthers ride a nine-game winning streak heading into the quarterfinals with its only loss to state-ranked Kankakee, 7-3, in Week 2.

“Eli has always played really hard, and works really hard in the weight room. He got himself in great shape (senior season)," Crouch said, "but it’s always tragic when a kid loses their junior season."

Crouch said the program always preaches playing multiple sports, and Papis playing lacrosse in the spring helped him better recover from the ankle injury.

“The nature of that game is similar to soccer where you are running all the time, and that helped him get his endurance back. That was huge getting his confidence back and getting him squared away conditioning-wise,” Crouch said. “Eli is long and lanky and has made a lot of great plays for us. This defense is definitely one of the best that we have had.”

John Komosa can be reached at jkomsports@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Washington football player Elijah Papis recovers from ankle injury to help defense