In today’s episode of This Hits Different, Shelby Cassesse tells the story of Hempfield football player Zach Persinger, who has battled through numerous injuries to return to the field for his senior season.
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Hempfield senior finally gets chance to play
It's common to hear a senior football player approach their final year saying they won't take a snap for granted. But for Hempfield Area defensive lineman Zach Persinger it just means more.
“Last Saturday we had a scrimmage and I went back in the locker room and was getting almost teary eyed. I was about to cry,” he recalled. “That was just a scrimmage, just a half we played. We’re all excited for it, but it’s going special, extra special, for me.”
That's because he knows what it's like to live without those snaps, adversity that has consumed his high school years.
It started during a scrimmage at the beginning of his freshman season.
“My knee, it just felt like it exploded,” he said. “My ACL popped. I heard it. My teammates around me heard it.”
He spent the whole year working his way back from surgery on a torn ACL, but in similar fashion to start his sophomore year…
“Two days after I got clear, I went back for my first practice and I tore it again, the same knee,” Zach said.
But following another intense surgery, Zach's junior season ended before it began. He fell and broke his kneecap while fishing. That injury and recovery process he said was the worst. It was the support around him that got him through it, and football remained the light at the end of the tunnel.
“My teammates, they would call me before games and be like, ‘hey, how ya doing, we’re ready to go out,’ and they’d go out and play,” he said. “Like while they were in the locker room getting ready, they’d be crazy. I think the main drive was that I wanted to get back on the field to play with my guys.”
It all felt like Deja Vu for Zach's mother Heather, watching her son push through recovery, just to see him forced to start again. But from setback came inspiration.
“The simplest things sometimes you take for granted, and Zach never does,” Heather said. “He does it from his heart, whether it’s a simple task or something that he knows he has to focus and get it done.”
That's because Zach maintained a positive attitude, a perfect report card, and dedication to his team. Whether it be a big game, practice or just a summer workout, head coach Mike Brown said, Zach was there.
“During practice, if we needed something filmed, he was the first person grabbing an iPad and filming it,” Mike said. “If we needed a ball spotter, he was spotting the balls. He would do whatever needed.”
“I really do think that football itself teaches discipline, responsibility and leadership,” Zach added. “So I really wanted that to be a part of my life. And I always knew, inside of me, that I’m going to be back playing.”
That work ethic that got him over one final hurdle. Last winter, Zach's weight became a concern. Doctors were not sure if his knee could handle it *and the strain of football. Heather said her son unsurprisingly jumped in head first.
“Within four months, he lost 65 pounds so he could be released,” she said. “So he worked hard to lose weight just to be able to say, ‘hey, I can get back on the field.’”
Last Friday - the moment finally came, three years in the making. Zach started and took his first in-game snaps as a Spartan. Mike got to soak it all in from the sideline.
“It was a little bit emotional, to be honest with you,” he said. “It went from a kid that could possibly never play again to, I mean, he started and he’s a captain for us.”
Though there's plenty of football to play, Zach is looking to the future, hoping to pay it forward for the nurses who helped him during his journey.
“That inspired me to — I wanted to make kids who were in my situation or worse to feel that comfort, that safety,” he said.
But in the meantime, he'll stick to the sport he loves, inspiring those who are lucky to know him.
“It shows, firsthand, in the locker room, in the weight room, on the field, that, if you set your mind to something, and put a goal, and you trust the process, that you can accomplish anything,” Mike said.
“I can’t speak highly enough. I love the kid. I wish I had 20 of him.”