By John RittenhouseThe game was played two months ago, but Curt Schilling remembers what transpired as if it happened yesterday.It was Sept. 19, and it was homecoming night at Hills-Beaver Creek High School.The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth Patriots were taking on Edgerton in a non-conference football clash in Hills.The Patriots were clinging to a four-point lead with less than four minutes left to play in fourth quarter. As quarterback and one of the leaders of the team, Schilling was just trying to make a play that would help lock up H-BC-E?s fourth consecutive victory to start the season."It was a fourth-and-eight situation, and we had called a pass play," Schilling recalled. "I couldn?t find anyone open to throw the ball to, so I started scrambling. I noticed the whole left side of the field was open, so ran for the first down marker. Just as I reached the marker, I got hit right in the knee by someone?s helmet or shoulder, and my foot was planted in the ground at the time."While Schilling, an Ellsworth High School senior, laid on the ground in pain for five or 10 minutes after impact, he didn?t immediately know the extent of the damage to his knee.After sitting on the bench with ice wrapped around his leg as the game progressed, the H-BC-E quarterback realized that something was wrong."I didn?t know how serious it was right away, but I knew something was not good," he said. "After sitting on the bench for a while, I picked up my helmet thinking that I was going back into the game. I took one step, and I just about fell over. I sat right back down because I knew I wasn?t going back into the game. I knew right then that something seriously was wrong."A trip to Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center in Sioux Falls confirmed Schilling?s fear that something was terribly wrong.Schilling was diagnosed with a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament, tears in the medial collateral ligament and tears in the meniscus.The damage meant Schilling?s senior football season was over, and, even more important to him, his last high school basketball season was in jeopardy."They say it takes about four months for a torn ACL to completely heal after surgery. The MVL heals on its own, and they scraped away cartilage damage to the meniscus," Schilling said."Looking back at it, that was a pretty disappointing time. It was disappointing for me and the whole community of Ellsworth. All the support the Ellsworth community showed me during that time really meant a lot. All of the cards and prayers I received were really something. It was kind of overwhelming."The feeling shared by Schilling and the community members of Ellsworth were based on the prospects of the upcoming basketball season.Ellsworth, a program that lost four starters to graduation from a 2002-03 team that placed second in Class A last season, did not need to lose another player to injury.Some area fans believed Ellsworth would emerge as a surprise team that could make a run at defending its Section 3A title this winter, but those expectations were based on the return of a healthy Schilling.Although he won?t be on the court to start the season, Schilling is eyeing a comeback this winter.The EHS athlete is currently doing rehabilitation work that is required after ACL surgery, and he thinks returning to the court before the projected fourth-month healing period is a possibility."The surgery was a complete success, and it feels pretty good right now," Schilling said. "Everything is going really well, and my trainer thinks so, too. He told me in the 17 years that he has been a trainer, and of all of the ACLs he?s had to deal with during those years, that my (recovery to this point) is the best that he?s ever seen. They say it takes four months to recover from ACL surgery, but I think it will be a lot earlier than that. I hope to be playing anywhere between late December to the middle of January."Schilling?s optimism stems from his rehabilitation work at Avera McKennan?s Sports Medicine Orthopedic Institute, where he spends a lot of time these days.Shortly after his Oct. 6 surgery, Schilling has returned to Sioux Falls for three hours of rehabilitation work four days each week with his trainer.His workouts started with riding stationary bikes, and they now include doing single leg presses, taking power walks, working on a trampoline and back-pedaling."It?s really tough work," Schilling admitted. "I can really feel it the next morning. I really don?t feel pain any more. Everything seems to be going well."It?s going so well that Schilling might be able to reach some personal goals with a successful return to the basketball court.With 1,718 career points, Schilling could become Ellsworth?s first 2,000-point scorer if he?s playing basketball like he wants to be in January. Schilling also needs to collect 150 more caroms to reach the 1,000-rebound plateau.Achieving those personal marks would be outstanding accomplishments, but Schilling is more concerned about having the Panthers perform well as a team."My big goal is to make it back to the state tournament," he said. "I?m looking at things in the long term right now. The first thing I want to do is get healthy again, and the next thing I want is to get back to the state tournament. That was the best experience of my life, and we would like to get back there again."
