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Surprise: Allen back in uniform

Panthers' Allen works his way back

Date published: 12/3/2005

By ADAM HIMMELSBACH

Before we begin this story, go get a small trash can and fill it halfway with ice.

Then take the shoe and sock off your right foot, roll up your pant leg, and nestle your sole to the bottom of the chilly bucket.

Makes you want to bundle up in a blanket just reading this, doesn't it?

Well, after every football practice, Byron Allen does this to his right foot.

But that's not the crazy part.

The crazy part, the part that will make you squint and drop your jaw, is that the numbing pain is one of the best feelings Allen has ever had.

It's not that the Massaponax senior loves making his toes feel like frozen sausages.

It's just that this is part of his comeback. This is part of his return that no one--not his doctors or parents or coaches--thought was possible.

This means that somehow, eight weeks after a broken ankle was supposed to end his season, he plans to play today when the Panthers visit Hampton in a Group AAA, Division 5 state semifinal.

"I thought he was done," Massaponax coach Eric Ludden said. "This is a total shock."

Doctors said he was done

If it had been one of those crisp, dry autumn evenings, maybe none of this would have happened.

If a drenching rain hadn't turned the football field to pudding on that Friday in early October, maybe Byron Allen would have been fine.

But the area's games were cancelled on Oct. 7 and rescheduled for the following Monday.

The Panthers were playing host to Colonial Forge, and midway through the game, Allen's right foot sunk into a muddy patch of grass. His body turned, his foot stayed planted, and his ankle and knee twisted like they were made of taffy.

Allen, a starter at safety and running back, fell to the mushy ground.

It felt like someone had taken a hammer to his knee. But the co-captain had broken bones before. This didn't feel like that.

He was helped off the field and sat on a trainer's table.

"I was worried about my knee," said Allen, who'd scored 13 touchdowns in the Panthers' first six games, "Then I looked down at my ankle and saw it was as big as a grapefruit."

STATE SEMIFINALS Today, 1:30 p.m. Group AAA, Division 5 Massaponax (12-0) at Hampton (11-1) Group AA, Division 3 James Monroe (11-1) at Turner Ashby (10-2) Group A, Division 2 Manassas Park (12-0) at Washington & Lee (11-1)

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Date published: 12/3/2005