Salina High Central senior a true warrior in life

Salina High Central senior Kaiden Comeau packs a mean punch at 5-foot-7 and 175 pounds. Life has tried knocking him out, but the Mustang safety/outside linebacker refuses to go down.

Nearly one month ago, Life appeared to land a serious blow to Kaiden’s dreams of playing college football.

“We were playing in our annual Gator Bowl scrimmage on the 25th of august,” Kaiden recalled. “We get in our game jerseys, get to play on a Friday night under the lights to get that feeling before our first game, and get some extra work going full speed. It’s always a great time and lots of fun.”

That is until the play that changed Kaiden’s season and his life.

“I was playing safety on the left side. Based on the offensive formation I was supposed to come down and make contact with the receiver and then get into our coverage we were running that play,” he said.

Ninety-nine out of 100 times it normally goes smoothly.

“I had already come down and knocked the receiver over in the previous drive in the same situation,” he continued. “But this time when I came down I made the hit and ended up falling forward with the receiver behind me on my back. The weight of both the receiver and I coming down all went onto my collarbone and I rolled over it as I landed, snapping my collarbone and chipping two other spots.”

Life 6, Kaiden 0

Life landed the first shot as Kaiden landed on the turf at Salina District Stadium.

“I actually didn’t lay down for long unfortunately,” Kaiden said. “I had a ton of adrenaline from the hit and i’ve always had a high pain tolerance, so I didn’t really understand what I had done and was only down for a few seconds before i got myself back up.

“As soon as I stood up I knew I was hurt, but had no idea how bad it was. Sometimes when making a big hit your shoulder goes kind of numb for a minute so I figured it might be like that, or I had pulled my shoulder out a bit and it would be a simple fix.”

Not this time.

“I started to walk myself to the sideline but convinced myself I was okay and could finish out the drive,” he said, a decision he admitted later was the wrong one. “I played five or six more plays, and actually had a PBU (pass break up) and a tackle, but the pain was getting much much worse as the initial adrenaline died off.”

He was pulled from the game and went straight to the athletic trainer.

“I had no idea how bad I had injured myself when it happened, like I said I had tons of adrenaline,” Kaiden said. “I actually thought I had dislocated my shoulder or something like that.

“As soon as I got to our athletic trainer I explained what I was feeling. She put her hand under my shoulder pad to feel the shoulder and immediately knew it was my collarbone, and that it was broken.”

A trip to the ER ensued.

“The doctors at the ER actually didn’t think surgery would be necessary, and I’d be healed fairly quickly,” he said. “However, we had a follow-up scheduled the following Monday and when we went in they re-X-rayed my collarbone and since the swelling had gone down some they found that the break was much worse than they had thought, and I would need surgery on it."

Not what he'd hoped

“I had surgery that Thursday morning, and after about a two-hour surgery I had a plate and 9 screws put in to keep my collarbone together and in the right place. The surgeon, Dr. Reilly, said it had been a total mess in my shoulder, and they had made about a 6-inch incision to go in and fix everything. When I woke up after surgery the nurse made me some toast to eat. It was some of the best toast I’ve ever had, but i’m not sure if it was because of the anesthetic or if the toast was just that good. After a while in recovery I was allowed to go home and we left.”

The first few days after surgery, as expected, were pretty bad pain-wise.

“But compared to the sharp pain I had been experiencing before surgery, this was much better,” he said. “I was originally hoping to be able to go to our game the next day to support the team in week 1, but I just wasn’t able to make it because of the pain.”

Kaiden watched on TV his Mustangs beat rival South 52-28.

“Even though I was upset I hadn’t been able to participate in it, I was happy for my teammates and to start the season off 1-0,” Kaiden lamented. “The next week I still wasn’t able to go to school for the full day yet, but I slowly pushed myself longer and longer as I started to heal more, and through time and lots of praying I’m doing much better.”

Kaiden still has visions and dreams of playing on Saturday’s next year.

“I think it was subconsciously decided from the minute I heard our athletic trainer say she knew it was broken,” Kaiden said. “I’ve wanted to play college football ever since I was a little kid and didn’t understand what any of that even meant, and I wasn’t willing to give up on that whether it meant I had to walk-on to a team or anything. I actually made a joke in the ER to my mom and asked if she thought one of the schools that had offered me would let me be a manager for their team.”

Looking to the future

Those schools that have offered scholarships include Sterling and Bethel.

“I love football and have always loved it, before I even understood what anything going on in the game meant,” Kaiden said. “Outside of football I’m involved in theatre, choir and my hobbies, but football has always been something I heavily enjoy.

“I love the team aspect of football and building relationships with your teammates. I started playing tackle football in 7th grade, and played as an Offensive Guard throughout middle school. I fell out of love with the sport after middle school and didn’t play my freshman year, but then joined my sophomore year to play safety, and was great at it.

“I loved playing safety from the second I started doing it. I loved the mental aspect of studying film, movements, anything the other team might give you in order to read them. I loved the physical aspect of bringing a hit to a ball carrier or reading a move to stop a receiver from catching the ball or a back from getting anywhere on a run. I love the sport and love the chance to play a game and just have fun even though we’re getting older and becoming adults.”

Playing college football would be the ultimate prize for Kaiden.

“In middle school, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to college at all. Because of football, I had the opportunity to learn more about colleges and all the different opportunities and activities within each college,” Kaiden said. “Growing up is hard, it’s obvious that when you leave high school and start on your own it’s a huge change. However, playing football in college is like keeping that extra piece of being a kid. The pieces of having fun, playing a game, improving yourself as an athlete and a human being.”

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Salina High Central senior a true warrior in life