BROOKVILLE, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Jack Pete was still undecided about putting the helmet and shoulder pads on again and joining the Brookville football team as late as days before the first week of practice.
Understandable. The senior’s last experience on the football field didn’t end so well.
(Picture above, Brookville senior Jack Pete has made a big impact in his return to the football field after a two-plus year absence. He leads the Raiders in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns/photo by Chad Thomas)
As a freshman, Pete tore his ACL in the first half of his first junior varsity game. Also a stellar basketball player and track star, Pete decided maybe hanging up the cleats was in his best interest.
“I played in the eighth grade and then I came back my freshman year to play and everything was awesome. Everything was going good,” Pete said. “Then I got tackled and blew out my knee. I got surgery, missed my freshman basketball and track seasons. Ever since I was sort of hesitant to get back into it.”
Brookville Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
But the thought always crossed his mind in the two years that followed. The idea to come back was something that he could never completely dismiss.
His friends, many of whom play football for the Raiders, began a full-court press to get him to return. Coaches, too — Gabe Bowley and his staff had someone at every one of Pete’s basketball games last season.
Planting a seed. Letting him know he was wanted.
Pete attended a few 7-on-7 competitions this summer and played well, using his 6-foot-3, 195-pound frame and athleticism to become a mismatch at wide receiver against just about everyone he squared off against.
But it wasn’t until the eve of practice that Pete committed completely to playing again.
“All my friends have been getting on me the last three years to come out and play again,” Pete said. “It was the last chance for me to come out and play, so I finally figured, ‘Why not?’ I didn’t want to regret not playing. I didn’t want to look back and think, ‘Oh, I should have done this.’ So I put the helmet back on and decided to be out there with my best friends.”
Pete said he also knew that if he was going to play, he had to be 100% on board.
He couldn’t worry about getting hurt. He couldn’t worry about potentially missing part — or all in a worst-case scenario — of his senior basketball season at Brookville.
He had to play free and easy and without fear.
Pete has been able to do that.
“I was weighing the pros and cons all summer long,” Pete said. “The coaches knew. I talked with them ahead of time to let them know my situation and where I was standing.
“The thing is, if I was going to play, I couldn’t think, ‘Oh, I don’t want to get hurt,’” Pete added. “That’s when I will get hurt.”
Pete quickly shook off two-plus years of rust and has become a playmaker at wideout for surging Brookville, which has won six in a row after an 0-2 start.
Pete leads the Raiders with 32 receptions for 685 yards and nine touchdowns.
“What a difference he’s made for us this year,” said Bowley, who is in his first year as the head coach, but was on the staff for several year prior. “He’s a big, tall, athletic kid. But things that you don’t see is he’s a leader on the team. He does the right things. He’s exactly what you want. I wish I could have had him for all the years, but we are tickled to have him this year.”
Pete is tickled to be back.
He said there was a rough patch when he first returned as he tried to reacquaint himself to the game. But once that period was over, he felt just as comfortable on the football field as he does on the basketball court at Brookville.
“I had to get back in the swing of things and remember how to do other things right,” Pete said. “Ever since, I mean, I love it. I love being with the team. I love the camaraderie. The locker room. The bus rides. All those kind of things. And I especially love Friday nights, going out and playing. It’s just a blast.”
Bowley was also pleasantly surprised at how quickly Pete got up to speed again.
That’s not an easy thing to do considering how long Pete was away from the sport.
“I was surprised in some aspects,” Bowley said. “I knew he had athleticism and stature — he’s big and strong with athleticism and that’s two out of the three pieces of the puzzle right there. The third is he’s a smart kid, so he picks up on things pretty quickly. It’s not as if he didn’t know the game of football — maybe not as deep as he knows it now — but he knew the game. I saw potential. Did we know he was going to take off the way he did? No, but we’re extremely happy that he has.”
Pete hopes to play a sport in college. He would love for that to be basketball, but he won’t eliminate football or track and field if that’s how the cards fall.
For now, he’s focused on helping Brookville return to the District 9 Class 2A title game. Last year, the Raiders fell to Central Clarion for the title.
The Raiders have a big game on tap on Friday night at rival Punxsutawney.
“We’re right where we want to be,” Pete said. “We had a slow start, starting out 0-2, but we’ve got the wheels rolling again. Hopefully we can carry that into this week and the postseason.”
Brookville Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
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