JACK OF ALL TRADES: Marriotts Ridge's Stephen Blucher (above) carries a couple of basketballs as well as baseballs and bats and at least one football in the trunk of his car. The Penn State-bound senior, who overcame a torn ACL in basketball to make a comeback in baseball, will major in engineering in college and plans to be a walk-on to the Nittany Lions' baseball team.
LOOKING AHEAD: Despite missing the entire basketball season with a knee injury, Penn State-bound Stephen Blucher of Marriotts Ridge "can't have any regrets," adding, "stuff happens. You've got to get over it."
(See video interviews below)
Stephen Blucher tore his ACL in the fifth game of the Marriotts' Ridge basketball season against Oakland Mills. To that point, Stephen had been our second leading scorer and rebounder.
For basketball, Blucher's career averages were 7.5 points per game and 4.2 rebounds per game.
Following his injury, Stephen remained a part of the team, attending all of the games and practices as well as serving as our team captain along with Kevin Seker.
If not for his injury, in my opinion, Stephen would have been one of the top three baseball players in Howard County.
In baseball as a junior, Blucher had 63 strikeouts with a 2.38 ERA as a pitcher, earning him second team all-county honors. Stephen also batted .375.
After rehabing his knee, Stephen made it back this year to appear in the state playoffs where he started as a pitcher in the Class 2A South Regional championship, 3-2, victory over Calvert of Calvert County.
Despite his injury and back luck, Stephen has remained positive and maintained his academic performance. Next year, Stephen will attend Penn State University, where he will attempt to walk-on to the baseball team.
by Lem Satterfield
Stephen Blucher appears to recall the fateful moment as if it had happened only moments ago.
"I was going up for an easy layup. Sure enough, a 6-foot-5 big man comes barrelling down on me. He fell on my knee the wrong way and it popped out," said Blucher, a 6-foot-1, 150-pounder whose season as a forward on the Mustangs' basketball team suddenly had come to an end with the injury to his left knee.
"After screaming in pain for a little bit, I had to go and get surgery about two months later in February. It takes five or six months for an average person to recover from, but I came back in three," Blucher said.
"It was hard work, never giving up, thinking about what was important," Blucher said. "And you just keep going."
Blucher did just that, progressing well enough in his physical therapy sessions to join the Mustangs' baseball team following their Howard County title-winning effort over Centennial when he was named the starter in their 3-2, Class 2A championship victory over Calvert of Calvert County.
"Baseball, it was hard watching. I had to watch throughout the whole season and then I came back in the playoffs," said Blucher, whose Mustangs finished as Class 2A state runners-up following a come-from-behind, 6-5 victory by Kent Island of the Eastern Shore.
"We won the counties, the regions, and we came very close to winning states. And the season went really well for the basketball team," Blucher said. "They turned it around and had a 15-4 victory schedule. I can't have any regrets. Stuff happens. You've got to get over it."
A Marriotts Ridge senior who will attempt to walk-on and play baseball at Penn State, where he will also major in engineeering, Blucher is Howard County's male winner of the DigitalSports Applause Scholarship for the spring.
DigitalSports' Applause Scholarship is awarded in the amount of $500 toward the college education of an outstanding senior student-athlete who has exhibited great courage in overcoming adversity in order to make a positive contribution to his or her team.
In 2007-2008, DigitalSports has named 22 Applause Scholarship winners
in the Baltimore area, representing more than $11,000 in scholarship
awards. Winners have come from
Anne Arundel County,
Baltimore City,
Baltimore County and
Howard County
territories, as well as the
Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and the
Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland.
"I went to physical therapy, and my physical therapist really pushed me and got me to where I am today," said Blucher, whose support system during his recovery included his parents, Regina Chiurcho and Craig Blucher; his girlfriend, Naomi Kromer; baseball coach Paul Eckert; and head and assistant basketball coaches, Marcus Lewis and Ken Hovet, respectively.
"My therapist, Tesh, he was great. He would push me and I would push back. We had fun together and we made it a good time," said Blucher, who called Lewis and Hovet "definitely the best coaches I've ever had in my life."
"They [Lewis and Hovet] taught me determination and to never give up," Blucher said. "I'd also like to thank Coach Eckert for putting me into the game. He didn't have to do that, but he stuck with me."