Friday, Jun. 27, 2008

Rotary Football Game: Making up for lost time

Injured for for most of the fall, Chowchilla's Seaman hopes to impress tonight

By JAMES BURNS
jburns@mercedsun-star.com

CHOWCHILLA -- Wyatt Seaman eased out of his pads and into an ice bath -- his body and spirit nearly broken. The Chowchilla running back propped his hands up on the side of the plastic tub, letting his body slump into a resting position as the ice dulled the pain. His senior season wasn't supposed to be this trying. And all those ice baths and Bengay rubs?

"Yeah, those weren't part of the plan," Seaman said. "But that's pretty much how my days went: Bengay, ice bath, Carl's Jr. with my cousins and then wake up sore. It sucked."

Seaman worked all summer to be bigger, faster and stronger than the guy who wreaked havoc on the Central Section as a junior playmaker in Chowchilla's Double Wing offense.

He toiled on the practice field in 100-degree heat -- pulling parachutes, climbing stairs and cutting around cones.

He studied the playbook.

And he lifted weights -- lots and lots of weights.

Yet there he was, following Chowchilla's 20-14 victory over Central Valley Christian in the first round of the playoffs, hobbling about the small locker room like he had just played all 22 positions on the field.

Truth be told, playing running back was hard enough.

Seaman missed four games and parts of a few others due to various leg injuries, relegating one of the area's most explosive players to a part-time star.

"From knees to ankles to hamstrings...you name it, he pulled, tweaked or tore it," said Chowchilla coach Jon Henson.

"He had something nagging him from Day One -- since he joined our program. And never once did I see a negative emotion from Wyatt, where I thought he was giving up."

Seaman's medical chart reads like the instruction manual for the board game "Operation."

There was the pulled hamstring, a summer injury that followed him into the first stages of the fall and ultimately cost him one game.

Then came the hip flexor, which Seaman jokingly calls "some weird muscle on my hip. I pulled that, too. It hurt."

The whammy came on a routine play against Kerman on Oct. 5. Seaman was tackled high, and as he fell to the ground, his legs got twisted up in the pile.

Somehow, he managed to fracture a bone in his knee -- an injury that required bi-weekly rounds of physical therapy in Fresno.

"It really wasn't a hit. I don't know, It was weird," Seaman said. "He grabbed me by my shoulder pads and we got tangled up. His legs got wrapped up with mine and we fell wrong.

"If you watch the film, it doesn't look like a bad hit."

It was bad enough.

The play kept Seaman out of a showdown with Washington Union, victories over Yosemite and Sierra and half of a home game against rival Dos Palos.

Now he's back.

At last.

An injury-free Seaman will lead the North -- a collection of all-stars from Merced and its surrounding counties -- against players from the Fresno area in the 23rd annual North-South Rotary All-Star Football Game tonight.

These promise to be special moments for Seaman, since the game will be at Chowchilla's Henry Massaro Stadium.

Kickoff is at 7:45 p.m.

Seaman would love to give his family and friends the show so many of them hoped to see last fall.

He's already got one fan.

Pitman coach Brandon Harris didn't know much about Seaman before Monday's first practice, but he's been seriously impressed with his raw speed.

Seaman will be used as a wide receiver in the North's "Pistol" offense.

"Wyatt has a really good attitude and he's a really hard runner," Harris said. "He's a tough-nosed kid and he's got pretty good speed. I like that about him.