SHORE GRIDIRON CLASSIC: A SECOND CHANCE

By Scott Stump - Senior Editor
E-mail: stump@digitalsports.com

*The Shore Gridiron Classic will be held on July 18 at 7 p.m. at Brick Township High School, pitting the best seniors from Ocean County against their counterparts from Monmouth County. Tickets are available in advance at all Applebee's locations in Monmouth and Ocean County, as well as Huddy's Inn in Colts Neck and Velocity Sports Performance in Wall. Later this week, tickets will also be available online through DigitalSports. The tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door.*

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     One night in January, Kyle Coleman went to bed comfortably like any other athlete on top of the world, a state-ranked wrestler enjoying a memorable season after starring on the football field in the fall.
     Twenty-four hours later, the Point Boro senior linebacker was being told that if he didn't have emergency surgery, his right leg would have to be amputated.
     "It seemed like a sick joke,'' Coleman said. "But it was so serious. It came out of nowhere.''
     Unbeknownst to him, Coleman had gone to bed with a rapidly spreading staph infection in his right knee that he said he contracted from a wrestling mat. When he woke up, his right knee was swollen about three times its normal size, and his temperature had skyrocketed to 105 degrees.
      "I got out of bed and fell right on the floor,'' he said. "We went to one hospital, and the doctor told me that I had the flu and that it was just a bruise on my knee. Then we went to a walk-in clinic in Brick, where they diagnosed it and took me directly to Ocean Medical Center.''
      Once there, he received some heart-stopping news.
      "One doctor said that I was five days away from losing my leg if I didn't do the surgery,'' Coleman said.
      About 36 hours after he had collapsed on his bedroom floor, Coleman was undergoing emergency surgery, where he said doctors had to flush seven liters of antiobiotic fluid through his knee to clear it of infection. That meant the end of his wrestling season, where he was considered one of the top 189-pounders in the state, and it was somewhat of a cruel joke for the Panthers senior.
      "I've always wanted to go to Atlantic City (for the NJSIAA Individual Wrestling Championships), and I said I wanted to stay in the Trump Hotel if I made it,'' he said. "The funny thing is that I love football, but I hate wrestling. Earlier in the season, I had secretly wished that wrestling season would just be over quickly. Well, my wish came true, and it makes you think to be careful of what you wish for sometimes.''
      His ordeal also also meant that his chances of playing in a game he has loved for as long as he can remember, the Shore Gridiron Classic, were now in jeopardy.
      "It's such a huge event,'' he said. "To get to play in front of all those people against great competition, and to get to make friends with guys you don't know during the week, it's something I've wanted to play in my whole life.''
      Coleman said he was in the hospital for another three days after the surgery and was not able to go to school for two months. A port had to be inserted into his right biceps muscle in order to apply three intravenous therapy treatments a day while at home as part of his recovery.
      "I have a fear of needles as it is, so that was not much fun,'' Coleman said.
      By March, he was back lifting weights and rehabbing his knee because he did not want to be denied a chance to play in the annual all-star game between the best seniors in Ocean County and their counterparts in Monmouth County.
      "I told him, it's like getting a second chance, so make the most of it,'' said Point Boro coach Calvin Thompson. "He was really excited about playing in that game, and he has been working hard to get himself ready because he didn't want to miss it.''
      Although there is no blitzing allowed in the Shore Gridiron Classic (much to Coleman's chagrin), he is looking forward to making new friends on his side and making opposing quarterbacks run for their lives on the other. It's something he does well, as he made 105 tackles and recorded a school-record and Shore Conference-leading 22 sacks in the fall on his way to being named a first-team DigitalSports Legends of the Fall performer. He finished his career with 35 sacks and helped the Panthers reach two South Jersey Group II finals during his time on varsity, including a 12-0 season in 2005.
      Coleman is geared up for a game he thought he might not be healthy enough to play in, a game in which his father, Terry, has served as a doctor in the past few years, and a game on the home field of one of his father's friends, legendary Brick coach Warren Wolf.
      "I'm not thinking about the knee at all now,'' he said. "I love this game so much, and I just want to play. I could care less what happens. I just want to play one more time.
      "My dad is good friends with Warren Wolf, and I've never stepped on that field at Brick before. It's going to be so exciting.''
      That will be the final hurrah before Coleman heads off to Kean University, where he has already found out he will be rooming with St. John Vianney's Rich Esdaile, who will be playing in the Shore Gridiron Classic for the Monmouth County side. Coleman gets one final chance to wear the gold Point Boro helmet and soak in a moment he has been waiting for all his life, a moment that nearly went up in smoke when life taught him not to take anything for granted.
       "It's a second chance,'' he said. "It's almost going to be surreal to be playing in a game that I've been watching for so long. I'm going to make the best of it.''