Riley County's Allen battles back from three surgeries to lead Falcons
RILEY, Kan. (KSNT) - Coming off of a trip to the state championship two years ago, Riley County's Nic Allen was primed for a huge junior year, but in one play, his season was taken away and his career in doubt.
"When he didn't get up and look like he was ready to go we figured something was wrong," said Riley County head football coach Steve Wagner.
Two games into his junior year, Nic Allen's life changed dramatically.
"It was the beginning of the second quarter against Centralia and I was running a jet sweep and I just kind of remember diving forward and then my foot kind of went numb, almost felt like a sprain I guess, and then popped up and tried to run and it felt like my foot was folded in half," says Nic Allen.
Allen suffered a lisfranc fracture.
"I dislocated a bunch of the bones in my foot and tore all the ligaments in between, so they had to reset them with pins and screws," added Allen.
That required three surgeries.
"One was to put everything in and the second one I had the pins removed and then at about six months I had all the screws removed," said Allen.
With Riley County primed to make another deep postseason run, the injury was devastating for Nic.
"After every game, I was at home crying talking to my dad and everything. It was rough. I was pretty depressed," says Allen.
"It took us a while to get over that. He was such a big part of what our plans were," added Wagner.
Nic faced a long rehabiliation process.
"I had to relearn how to walk and skip and jump and everything. I couldn't run yet and then we got to six months and I had the screws removed, and then I had to wait a week and I could start jogging," said Allen.
"That's what football does. You're going to face adversity and Nic has shown he was ready to deal with the adversity," said Wagner.
In Riley County's opening game of the season, Allen's first game back, Nic made a statement running for four touchdowns against St. Marys.
"It was a huge weight off my shoulders and there was no better feeling than that I don't think. My parents came over and hugged me right after the game and it was great," said Allen.
"Everybody was just happy for him as an individual and for what it brought to our team," added Wagner.
Allen has rushed for 17 touchdowns and nearly 1,000 in six games this season.