With the benefit of hindsight, Illiana Christian senior Nolan Flipse can make light of his emergency appendectomy last season.

He had surgery in the aftermath of the Vikings’ 1-1 tie with Crown Point on Sept. 12, a game in which he missed a penalty kick.

“I like to say — it’s a little joke — I had a PK and skied it, and I like to say that’s when it ruptured right there,” Flipse said.

Illiana Christian coach Todd Bevan noted that story has spread.

“It’s a running team joke — he missed his PK because his appendix burst,” Bevan said.

Of course, it was no laughing matter at the time. The 6-foot Flipse missed seven games over the course of three weeks.

“One morning, I woke up and had a weird stomach pain,” he said. “For 30 hours, I just stayed at home, then finally went into a doctor and did a CT scan. They told me, ‘Yeah, we’re going to prep you for the surgery in 15 minutes.’”

Helped by his father, Ryan, the founder, owner and operator of a physical therapy practice, Flipse came back for Illiana Christian’s Class 2A sectional opener against Griffith on Oct. 3. He netted a hat trick off the bench in that win before returning to the starting lineup in the next round against Boone Grove.

The Vikings, who had won their second straight Greater South Shore Conference title, lost in the sectional final to Bishop Noll.

“I definitely felt a little different at first, and Bishop Noll was a lot more physical, and that’s where I definitely think psychologically I was a little more hesitant to go into tackles,” Flipse said. “I got scared of the possibility of ripping open the scar.”

Flipse finished with six goals and an assist last season, one Bevan described as “weird” for Flipse and one in which he “struggled a bit” even before the appendectomy. Flipse had exploded for 22 goals and four assists during his sophomore season, when the Vikings won a sectional title in their second year of Indiana High School Athletic Association postseason eligibility and advanced all the way to a regional final before losing in penalty kicks.

“It was a huge loss,” Bevan said of Flipse. “Even though he came back for the postseason, you can’t miss three weeks with the surgery and come back fit and ready to go. We want to play our best players in the most important games, so we did. We made it work.

“But as he said, you could tell he was a little bit behind the pace, a little bit off. He played well, but it wasn’t enough for us to overcome a good Bishop Noll team last year. We’re looking forward to this year, though.”

With a healthy Flipse, one of six senior starters, Illiana Christian (3-0) has visions of another GSSC title and an even deeper postseason run than in 2021.

Flipse already has five goals, including two each against Hobart and Portage. He moved from the wing to center attacking midfielder for the second half of the Vikings’ 4-1 win against Hobart on Aug. 19, when they scored all of their goals after halftime. They posted seven goals in a shutout of Portage on Monday.

Bevan praised the offensive play of senior standout Chase Poortinga, as well as junior Will Bloom and sophomore Noah Sons. But Bevan largely credited Flipse, who was shifted to midfielder after senior Josh Turkstra suffered a torn ACL just before the start of this season.

“He’s obviously off to a great start,” Bevan said of Flipse. “When Josh got injured, it really made us relook at what we were going to do. But Nolan has really grasped that center attacking mid role. Having someone step up for Josh was really a big deal, and we really like Nolan there centrally. He brings a lot of energy, he drives the ball forward, he takes the space and progresses it. It’s been a huge benefit for us.

“The goals are coming even without Josh, and most of that is because of Nolan. He’s really taken that over. We’ll be very reliant on him to have continued success.”

Flipse, who has a twin sister, Maya, and two other siblings, has continued to rely on Turkstra as a resource.

“I’ve learned from Josh,” Flipse said. “I’ve played with him for so many years, and he’s taught me a lot about that position too. Working with him has been great.

“We were having a great summer, but it was a rough start with the big injury to Josh. It sucks, but we’ve tried to make up for it and cover up for him. Losing him, it’s brought us closer as a team because we realize, ‘Let’s do it for him.’”

Senior Zach Davids has appreciated Flipse’s efforts.

“He’s stepped up for the team, especially in that spot,” Davids said. “That will be a big difference in our success this year.

“We were messing around after Josh got hurt. We didn’t know what we were going to do, trying a bunch of different things in practice, trying different formations, different personnel changes. But what we have going now is really strong, especially with Nolan at center attacking mid. I like that. It gives us strength in the middle.”

As an undersized freshman, Flipse spent most of the season on the junior varsity team. But he earned a varsity call-up, joining classmates Davids, Turkstra and Zander Weemhoff, and wound up with five goals in eight games, including a hat trick in his debut against Hebron.

“I was really small, and my best friends, Zander, Zach and Josh, were up. They were bigger and quicker,” Flipse said. “But playing on the JV, it really helped me, really pushed me. It really made me think about how I had to have a scoring mentality and go to goal and get bigger and how I had to keep working because nothing is guaranteed.

“I might’ve walked into freshman year thinking I had a guaranteed spot on varsity with all of my other best friends. We’ve been playing our whole lives, but so has everybody else, and they were bigger than me.”

Flipse has grown into a “humble” leader, according to Bevan. Davids and Weemhoff are Illiana Christian’s designated captains, but Flipse is held in similar regard.

“Even though Zach and Zander are our captains, he’s one of our leaders of the program,” Bevan said of Flipse. “The boys look to him to keep practice organized, on task, get them going, get motivated, all of those things.”

Davids agreed with Bevan.

“I’ve known Nolan since third grade, and we’ve been playing together since that long ago, and he’s been one of my best friends for all of those years,” Davids said. “He’s really unselfish. His IQ is really high. He’s a guy who’s always in the right place at the right time.

“He’s always positive. That’s one thing about Nolan. He’s always positive. I just love the guy.”