TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Blake Reed story doesn't start with the first play of last year's preseason game against Tanque Verde.
"He's just a great young man," said Pusch Ridge Christian Academy head coach Kent Middleton.
Reed was set to have a big senior season until he suffered a non-contact injury.
"His leg wasn't right," said Middleton. "I knew right then and there it was pretty serious."
"I just remember being very distraught riding in the hospital with my leg hurting," said Reed. "There were tears flowing down my face because I thought I'd never play football again."
Reed was diagnosed with a hip dislocation and acetabular fracture, an uncommon injury for a seventeen year-old.
"Rehabilitation was hard," said Reed. "I had to relearn how to walk and run."
It wasn't the first adversity Blake Reed has faced. When he was eight years old, Blake as riding with his father in an ATV in the imperial sand dunes west of Yuma. The ATV had a mechanical faiure.
"It got too close and it ended up flipping into a canal," recounted Reed. "It went into twenty feet of water and landed on its side."
Blake was strapped under water wearing a five-point harness seat belt.
"I was thinking I was about to die."
Eventually, Blake was able to free himself and swam up to the surface, looking for his Dad.
"I remember getting to the surface and not seeing him there."
Blake Reed's father had drowned.
"I was distraught. I think of him every day. I miss him."
Now, years later, Blake appeared to have lost his senior season due to injury, until he finally had some good fortune. Blake was granted a hardship waiver by the Arizona Interscholastic Association, making him eligible to have the senior season he missed last year.
"I was ecstatic," said Middleton. "Literally, the whole team was ecstatic."
"I was in disbelief," said Reed. "All the glory to God that he enabled to me to play this year."
Blake has taken advantage of his new opportunity. A two-touchdown performance last year has led the Lions to a 12-1 record and a spot in the Class 3A state title game.
"He's so unassuming except for his physical presence," said Middleton. "He's just been an incredible inspiration.
"It means a lot to be out here playing football, the game I love. I thought it was over."
