Despite knee injury, Ballard a champion
By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer
Monday, February 6, 2012
It was the most-heart wrenching scene of Sunday?s Super Bowl.
Early in the fourth quarter, Jake Ballard pulled himself up from the New York Giants bench, steadied himself on his already badly damaged left knee and then tried to run along the sideline.
Along with testing the stability of his leg, the starting tight end from Springboro was trying to prove to his coaches that he was sound enough to go back onto the field and help his team battle the New England Patriots, who had the lead the entire second half.
Ballard had been injured a few minutes earlier when he had made a cut away from the ball and crumpled onto the field in pain, immediately grabbing his left knee as teammate Hakeem Nicks rushed over and tried to comfort him.
The scene was discomforting d?j? vu, not only for his Springboro family sitting up in the stands at Lucas Oil Stadium, but for those closest to him back home ? like his former high school coach Rodney Roberts, now the athletics director and football coach at Franklin High ? who were watching on TV.
In mid December, Ballard had partially torn the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his other knee against the Washington Redskins and had missed the final two regular-season games.
?When I saw him go down this time I just felt heartache,? Roberts said Monday night. ?I was heartbroken.?
Ballard eventually was helped off the field and attended to on the sideline by medical personnel, who, in the first half, had done the same with backup tight end Travis Beckum, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament and will need surgery.
So Ballard forced himself to his feet and, with the NBC cameras trained on him, he tried to run. He managed a couple of strides, began to hop on one leg and then tumbled into the outstretched arms of a Giants staffer before rolling and landing awkwardly on his back, his face tightened in pain as he again grabbed at his knee.
?You have to admire his courage for trying,? NBC analyst Cris Collinworth quietly told the worldwide TV audience.
?You certainly do,? echoed play-by-play man Al Michaels.
As he watched the scene unfold, Roberts feared the worst: ?When I watched the replay of his injury and saw him go down without contact, as a coach you know those are the worst.
?Then watching him try to run on the sideline and seeing him crumble, I?ve never seen that from Jake Ballard before. I had a sick feeling in my stomach.?
That feeling was fully realized Monday night when he got a text message from Ballard. What had originally been reported as a meniscus tear was not that at all said Roberts:
?He told me he had torn his ACL.?
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