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Cambridge Christian's Caleb Young makes up for lost season

 
Caleb Young tore his ACL on Sept. 9, 2016, and missed the rest of his junior season. Now he's back in a familiar spot with the Lancers: playing in the state semifinals. (Times 2016)
Caleb Young tore his ACL on Sept. 9, 2016, and missed the rest of his junior season. Now he's back in a familiar spot with the Lancers: playing in the state semifinals. (Times 2016)
Published Nov. 22, 2017

TAMPA — For Cambridge Christian, last Friday's Class 2A region final against Indian Rocks Christian represented a hurdle that the Lancers couldn't quite clear a year ago. For one Lancer in particular, it was the Golden Eagles themselves that brought back nothing but bad memories.

So as Cambridge coach Bob Dare prepared the script of plays for his team's second-round playoff game, he knew exactly which one needed to come first.

The last time the Lancers played Indian Rocks Christian, two-way starter Caleb Young took a handoff on a jet sweep, was tackled and didn't play another snap the rest of the year. Young tore his ACL and spent the next eight months rehabbing.

"We made sure in the first possession, we ran the same play that he got hurt on," Dare said, "just to get it out of the system."

And after that, Young's mind made way for new memories against Indian Rocks Christian — ones of a 12-yard touchdown run on the opening drive, three receptions and a second-quarter interception that helped the Lancers win its first region final in two years.

Watching his teammate contribute in a way he wasn't able to last year, offensive lineman Richard Gouraige said, was just another thing to celebrate after Friday's 50-14 victory.

"Caleb's stepped up a lot. I know that he was nervous playing this game, this is the team that he fell down to," Gouraige said. "But I know he was ready to come out and show what he's got."

Thanks in part to Young's performance against the Golden Eagles, Cambridge will host Hialeah Champagnat Catholic on Friday at Skyway Park. The winner will move on to the 2A state championship, a game the Lancers have appeared in but never won.

Cambridge fell to Northside Christian in last year's region final, a fact that Dare partially attributes to Young's untimely exit.

"It was a great loss last year, because he's been a starting receiver, free safety, quarterback, the defense back there in coverages," Dare said during spring practice. "Caleb was a big difference in how far we went last year compared to the year before."

As a sophomore, Young led Cambridge in receiving and was fifth on the team in tackles, leading the Lancers to a 12-1 record and state runnerup finish. Like his brother Garrett, quarterbacked the Lancers and is now the starter at Michigan Tech, Caleb appeared to be on the brink of a busy season of recruiting, with two more years left to show colleges what he could do.

But on Sept. 9, 2016, one play upended his plans.

"It was a jet sweep, and I was running around the outside. I made a couple moves. I was out in the open, and the safety had an angle on me," he recalled. "He just dove at the wrong time, and he hit it right away when my leg was planted."

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Sixteen-hundred miles away in Houghton, Mich., Garrett was streaming the game online and watched as his brother went down. He immediately texted his parents, who confirmed Caleb's injury.

Garrett, who tore his ACL during basketball season as a senior at Cambridge, didn't hesitate to reach out with words of advice.

"I just told him, 'Keep your head up. I've been through it, and I know you can do the same,'?" Garrett said

A week and a half after the injury, Caleb had surgery. After that, it was months of physical therapy, all while watching his Lancers play without him. With no junior tape to speak of, his recruitment took a backseat, putting all the more pressure on those first several weeks of his senior campaign.

And this year, he's made up for lost time.

The senior has 758 yards receiving and eight touchdown receptions. He's got just nine carries, but two have been for scores. Caleb said he's been in contact with a handful of college programs, including Elon, a Division I-AA team that is currently high on his list.

But before he makes that decision, he's got other things — like a state championship — on his mind. Because now that bad memories have been replaced, there's more than enough room for better ones.

"It made me stronger mentally, and it just made me realize you never really know when you're last play will be," he said. "So just cherish it."