Ross won’t let break stop him

Braden Ross played soccer for three weeks on a broken foot before finding out the severity of the injury.

When a doctor told the Sage Hill School forward he could not worsen the injury by playing on it and Ross would just have to deal with the pain, the decision was simple. Ross, a senior, was not about to miss his final playoff run at Sage Hill.

The unbeaten Lightning (14-0-2), the No. 2 seed in the CIF Southern Section Division VI playoffs, will play host to the winner of today’s NuView Bridge (10-6-3) and Joshua Springs (6-5-2) match on Saturday at 3 p.m.

The team’s success this season, 15 shutouts, only one goal allowed all season and an Academy League championship, is part of what drove Ross to play with pain in his kicking foot and postpone surgery until the postseason is over.

“It’s very important. This team we have is really good,” Ross said. “I want to play.”

Ross missed the final three games of the season following a collision with a JSerra goalkeeper that led to the discovery of the injury. His teammates have filled in admirably, scoring 11 goals in the three games, with senior forward Tyler Ellis notching three goals in those matches.

But the Lightning will be without freshman forward Ben Capaldi, who has a longstanding family commitment and will miss the first two playoff games. So, Ross knows no matter how much he plays, a half or more, he will be a critical component to the team’s success.

“Hopefully I won’t have to play for the entire game,” said Ross, who played a few minutes in the regular season finale. “I’m usually pretty good at getting back. I’m going to have to play on it like normal. If I worry about it, there might be a greater risk of getting hurt.”

Since the bone is small and on the outside of the foot it has not terribly inhibited Ross’ running. It has prevented him from kicking with the outside of his foot, which could limit his playmaking, and he has slowly worked his way back kicking the ball softly at first.

“It’s hard because I can’t kick with the outside of my foot,” Ross said. “I have to improvise.”

In four seasons of varsity football and nearly four of varsity soccer, Ross has yet to face an injury this severe. After his Lightning football career ended in the fall, Ross figured he was out of the woods when it came to a major injury.

“It is kind of strange,” said Ross, who was on crutches for two days after finding out about the break. “I thought I’d be fine, play and have fun. It hasn’t been that way.”

Ross said when Sage Hill Coach Noureddine El Alam found out about the break he was disappointed and wanted to make sure Ross didn’t push his injury too much. Throughout, Ross’ teammates have been supportive, unsurprised by his desire to play and happy to have him back on the field.

“He’s hanging in there for us,” senior captain Alex Edelstein said. “We expect nothing less from him just because he’s played through injuries before for the team. Everyone knows he’s a great player. He is showing what he is capable of doing.”

Senior Conrad Whitaker said scrapes and bruises are a result of playing soccer and seeing Ross play through his injury has been a motivation for players to compete through theirs.

“It shows his wants, his drive to win,” Whitaker said. “He’ll do what it takes to win. It limits my questioning of my own injuries. To know that other people are in worse condition, I’m not going to miss anything. This is the last five games, hopefully, of our high school career.”

The Lightning also get freshman midfielder-forward Chris Burke back from injury. He missed the league season.

“We were talking about having the game [today] we were so excited to play,” Ross said.