Chesterton’s Sebastian Boswell continues to wrap his mind around it.

The senior quarterback suffered a torn ACL and torn meniscus in his left knee during the third game of the season. The injury ended his high school athletic career, preventing him from playing baseball in the spring.

“It’s still hard to understand or take in,” Boswell said. “It’s my senior year. I’ve never had an injury like this before. It sucks.

“But I have to keep my head straight, my head right. It’s reality now. For the next nine months, it’s just intense focus and making sure I do the right things. Come back healthy for the summer leading into the fall — wherever I end up.”

Indeed, Boswell’s recruitment has continued. He visited Hillsdale for a game last weekend. He has a visit to Valparaiso scheduled for its game against Dayton on Nov. 4. He’s talking to several other programs.

The 6-foot-3 Boswell, who finished with 274 yards and a touchdown this season after throwing for 1,420 yards and 12 TDs last year, has remained engaged with the Trojans (2-4), attending practices and games and trying to help as a would-be coach.

“I want to make sure the guys stay mentally focused,” he said. “Every opponent the rest of the season is good.

“We’re trying to get that first sectional championship. That’s the main goal, right? That first sectional championship, that would be the biggest thing in school history.”

First, Boswell was scheduled for surgery on Thursday. He is planning to recover at home next week.

“I’m a little bit nervous,” he said Wednesday. “My life’s about to change a lot. It’s already changed a lot. It’s going to be a long journey. But I’m good. My family will support me. I’m really fortunate to have them.”

That support system includes his father, Jim, a former quarterback who graduated from Chesterton in 1981 and walked on at Purdue.

“He found out in college he didn’t have an ACL,” Boswell said of his father. “So he had similar surgery to me in college. It sucks, but at least he knows what’s going on. He’s been there.”

The strong-armed Boswell was primed for a productive senior season and had cemented himself as a leader. He’s the team’s “lone captain,” Chesterton coach Mark Peterson said, with three others rotating on a weekly basis.

“The team voted this year, and there were a lot of worthy kids who received votes, and he received the most,” Peterson said. “We made the decision as a staff that we were going to utilize a week-by-week captainship, and in doing so, Sebastian would be our solo captain. He’s certainly highly regarded by his teammates.”

Count senior Garrett Lewis, who has been dealing with a hip injury, among them.

“He’s our leader,” Lewis said of Boswell. “Losing him so early after having him all offseason and working with him sucked. A lot of people were discouraged after he went out of the (Michigan) City game.

“But you have to try to move on. You just pat him on the back and say, ‘We got you.’ We just talk to him and see how he’s doing mentally and physically. We definitely miss having him on the field.”

Boswell had gained 30 pounds in the offseason to get to 215. He shaved his time in the 40-yard dash from 5.1 seconds to as low as 4.7 at a camp over the summer, and he was consistently running between 4.8 and 4.9.

“I wanted to run the ball more this year,” he said. “I wanted to get bigger and stronger and faster.”

Peterson praised Boswell’s diligence.

“He really did a great job in the offseason, in our weightlifting program,” Peterson said. “He really excelled. He did a great job of doing everything he needed to do.”

But on the first play against Michigan City on Sept. 1, Boswell suffered the “freak injury,” as Peterson put it, when he “literally just landed wrong.”

Boswell actually remained in the game for two more plays, saying, “You get hurt, you play on it. It’s football.”

But on the next play, a handoff, he felt a sharp pain. Then on a short rollout to the right, his knee gave out.

“I knew something was wrong,” he said.

Boswell had backed up standout Chris Mullen during his sophomore season. When Mullen aggravated a hip injury in the 2021 regular-season finale against Merrillville, Boswell recalled getting thrust into the game for his first action that wasn’t mop-up duty.

“I had to go in the Merrillville game and face Kenny Grant,” Boswell said, cracking a small smile as he referred to the defensive lineman who now plays at Michigan. “The first play, I got sacked by him and three other guys. You just see my body disappear. I threw the ball like 2 yards. You see the ball just flutter, and I just disappear under these four massive guys, and a good percentage of it was Kenny Grant.

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“But after that first drive, you’re a little less nervous, and you settle in, and everything slows down. You have that X-factor, and it just activates.”

Boswell tried to draw on his experience and impart it when the Trojans played Valparaiso on Sept. 15. Junior Brady McCormack, who took over for Boswell after having been in the quarterback mix last season, got hurt against the Vikings, and junior CJ Perez replaced him.

The scenario was an example of the role Boswell has tried to take on following his injury.

“I was on the sideline, and I helped him calm down,” Boswell said of Perez. “It was a similar situation when I was a sophomore against Merrillville. I coached him up. I told him, ‘It’s not the same skill set and speed of a JV game. But if you slow things down, you’re like every guy out there. You have the ability. You just have to have the confidence to play at that level.’”

Peterson said he believes Boswell, once healthy, can flourish at the next level.

“As a quarterback, he’s still finding his stride,” Peterson said. “He’s only 17, and he won’t turn 18 until he goes to college, so he’s still a youngster. His best football is ahead of him.

“Academically, he does a great job in the classroom, and he’s really carried that over onto the field. He represents our program very well. He’s just a good, heady kid and a hard-nosed football player. He’s done some really good stuff for our program.”

Originally Published: Sep 28, 2023 at 10:03 am