Injury Is Just Another Hurdle for Blanco

Rancho Alamitos running back Alex Blanco was lying on his back in excruciating pain, knowing the Pacifica defender’s helmet that slammed into his right knee had caused some serious damage.

Blanco knew a second major knee injury might not only cut short his dream senior season, but could also end his dreams of a college scholarship.

But when Rancho Alamitos Coach Doug Case came running onto the field at Bolsa Grande High to check on his gifted back, remarkably, Blanco was the one doing the reassuring.

“I knew it was a bad injury,” Blanco said. “Coach said, ‘No, Alex it’s not that bad.’ I said, ‘Yes, it is coach. It’s pretty bad. But it’ll be OK. Don’t worry.’ ”

Case said Blanco’s injury was a “sheer case of bad timing.”

“It could have happened to anybody,” Case said. “It’s one of those fluke plays that happen in this game. Unfortunately, it happened to a great kid that doesn’t deserve another setback.”

Blanco, a born-again Christian, believes everything happens for a reason. Though he questioned the validity of that reason for a few days, he has accepted his fate. And now, three weeks after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament for the second time in a year, Blanco is more determined than ever to return this season.

“If I had a broken leg, I’d be trying to do anything I could to get back out there,” he said.

Receiver/safety Shawn Young, who saw his best friend return to action last season only five weeks after tearing his left ACL, said he would never bet against Blanco.

“The other day he told me he had a surprise for me,” Young said. “Well, he took me out in the hall and he did a couple cuts for me. I couldn’t believe it. Knowing Alex, anything’s possible.”

Case is not counting on Blanco for the undefeated Vaqueros’ playoff run, but he’s not counting out Blanco either.

“He’s got great strength in his knee,” Case said. “He can run on it. He can cut on it. I cannot believe it.”

How can someone who is due to have reconstructive surgery in a month not only walk, but run and cut well enough to play football?

“It’s the Lord,” Blanco said.

Last year about this time, as he was searching for answers to his first injury, Blanco became a born-again Christian. He had been raised Catholic but was not a regular church-goer.

This season, Blanco inscribed Bible proverb 16:9 onto the bottom-left corner of his uniform. It is that proverb that Blanco said helped him overcome last season’s devastating injury and will ultimately help him overcome his latest injury.

“It says: ‘In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps,’ ” Blanco said. “He does determine my season, my life. I can do great. Through him, I can do everything.”

Blanco, 5 feet 11, 185 pounds, had done almost everything for fourth-ranked Rancho Alamitos over the Vaqueros’ first six games. He returned from last year’s surgery stronger than ever after rehabilitating his left knee through therapy all summer long.

In the 1997 season opener against Troy, Blanco rushed for 180 yards and three touchdowns. The next week, he ran for 187 yards and a touchdown in 29 carries to help lead Rancho Alamitos to a 38-14 upset of Division I power Esperanza.

Bolsa Grande Coach Earl Graves, whose team held Blanco to 171 yards this year, had a hard time believing Blanco was hurt.

“He’s probably one of the most fluid backs I’ve seen,” Graves said. “He’s just so graceful. The kid is really, really good. The thing that surprised me the most was how good a defensive player he was. He’ll come up and hit you from that safety spot.”

That free safety spot is where Blanco’s injury might affect Rancho Alamitos’ Southern Section Division VIII title hopes the most.

Blanco rushed for 1,085 yards and 12 touchdowns in less than seven games this season, but he was sharing the ball with another talented back, David Vickers, who has 1,353 yards and 24 touchdowns. In the Vaqueros’ defensive backfield, there is less depth and Blanco often helped hold the secondary together.

Without Blanco back there, Los Amigos burned the Rancho Alamitos secondary for a long touchdown pass in the first half.

Rancho Alamitos came back strong to defeat Los Amigos, 35-10, as Vickers rushed for four touchdowns and the Vaqueros’ defense stuffed Los Amigos’ running game and sacked the Lobo quarterbacks five times. Tonight, Rancho Alamitos will play Covina in a game some people consider a preview of the section championship.

Blanco will not play, but he is seriously considering making a comeback for the Vaqueros’ first-round playoff game the next week.

Last year, Blanco said his doctor wasn’t even aware he was playing on a banged up left knee. This time, Blanco said he will listen to his doctor, his family and his coach before determining whether he will tempt fate and risk doing further damage.

This week, Blanco has been contacting college coaches who have been recruiting him and telling them about his injury. Iowa State, Kansas, Oregon, Oregon State and Nevada Las Vegas were interested in Blanco, who is on target to qualify academically at most Division I schools.

Dick Lascola, who owns the Fallbrook-based Scouting Evaluation Assn., had not heard about Blanco’s injury but advised him to keep pursuing a Division I scholarship.

“Ten years ago, a kid’s career would have been over with this kind of injury,” Lascola said. “Now, the worst-case scenario is, this kid’s going to go rehabilitate his knee, go to a junior college and maybe he can get a Division I scholarship after only a year.”

Whether it’s the worst case or the best case, Blanco seems ready to handle it.

“I was just born with this talent,” he said. “I’m trying to put it to good use.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Featured Game

COVINA VS. RANCHO ALAMITOS

When: 7 tonight.

Where: Bolsa Grande High.

Records: Covina 8-1, 6-0; Rancho Alamitos 9-0, 6-0.

Rankings: Rancho Alamitos is No. 1 and Covina is No. 3 in the Southern Section Division VIII sportswriters’ rankings.

Noteworthy: Rancho Alamitos Coach Doug Case has been telling his team all week that the playoffs begin tonight. Case expects to see Covina again, possibly in the Division VIII championship game. If Rancho Alamitos wins, the Vaqueros keep their perfect record and No. 1 seeding intact. A Covina victory probably drops Rancho Alamitos to third in the section rankings and moves Covina up a notch to second. Second-ranked La Mirada probably would be the top-seeded team, provided it wins this weekend. The Vaqueros, led by David Vickers (201 yards and four touchdowns) ran the ball extremely well last week against Los Amigos, but they completed only one of 10 passes. If Rancho Alamitos is going to beat a solid team, such as Covina, quarterback George Gonzalez will have to play better and his offensive line must protect him better than it did last week.