It happened during a championship game against Cherry Creek High School last season. Valor Christian High School linebacker Chase Zimmerman took a big hit. He went down hard.
His mind flashed the painful information that his knee was damaged. It was worse than he feared. He suffered a compound tibia fibula fracture.
“I looked down, and I was kind of holding my leg, and it was like, dangling in half,” Zimmerman said. “So I knew it was a pretty brutal injury.”
He was a standout on the team and now was facing the prospect that he was at the end of the road in terms of football. His dreams of playing in college were in limbo. As his teammates, coaches and family gathered in concern, a reality set in. Zimmerman wondered how he would get through this.
After surgery, he faced a nine-month recovery, the better part of a year typically spent training for the next season. With this, would he even have a shot at playing his senior year?
“So a lot of doubts were going through my mind,” Zimmerman said.
His play already was good enough to attract some interest that could extend his career into college. Now, he wondered.
“That was when things started to get more hard, was when I was in the unknown of ever playing again,” he said.
He says even his faith was tested, but he took solace in family and friends. And, Valor Head Coach Bret McGatlin stood by him, making a difference.
McGatlin came to Valor before the 2022 season after spending 16 years at Chatfield High School in Littleton.
In his final season at Chatfield, he led the Chargers to a 4A championship title over Erie 41-34. The Chargers started 7-3 and then won their final four games of the season on the way to a championship.
“Our team kind of rallied around each other and had this miraculous run, so we found a way to win a state championship, which was a blessing,” McGatlin said.
After coming to Valor, McGatlin wasted no time continuing the success he had enjoyed at Chatfield. After his team’s appearance in the 5A state championship in 2022, he notched an important milestone, following in the footsteps of former coach Donnie Yantis, who led Valor to 5A championship games in 2020 and 2021.
Going into his first season, McGatlin knew Valor had lost a lot of players who graduated from that championship team.
“I think they had 19 starters that had graduated and I think 11 of those guys went on and became Division I football players,” he said.
Valor started 2-2 but then won nine straight games before losing in the championship to Cherry Creek 21-0 in the 2022 season.
“We just kind of slowly but surely came together and it was not an easy way there, winning the semifinal by one point,” McGatlin said. “But yeah, to get back to the state championship game with a whole different team was pretty cool.”
“I really felt like that team that we had last year was so well bonded and they played so well together,” McGatlin said.
Despite the injury in the championship game, Zimmerman was determined to work his way back.
“I don’t think he was in disbelief, I think he was more upset that he couldn’t wrestle but he’s one of those kids that as soon as he could he was rehabbing and he was in the weight room,” McGatlin said.
Valor got off to a rocky start in the 2023 season. After losing nearly an entire roster of seniors, the Eagles began their season on a bad note. And despite being a football powerhouse, this was the most attention Valor had received in a long time. Every local media outlet was knocking on their door wondering “What’s wrong with Valor football?”
“Competition was tough to start the year first thing,” McGatlin said.
There were lots of other factors, too, including Zimmerman. His recovery was long and slow. Having his world turned upside down made Zimmerman look for answers, which his mother provided.
“You can wallow in your misery or you can go see what God has to say about this,” Mom Lindsay said.
So, Zimmerman opened his Bible. He got into the practice of telling his mom each morning the verses he read. He resolved to trust what God had planned for him.
“It was really inspiring to hear a 17-year-old kid say that,” Lindsay said.
Zimmerman’s father, Scott, described the amazing moment that he witnessed from the football community around them.
“We had calls from all over the country, the opposing team, coaches, parents, and all the Valor community,” Scott said. “I mean we had more food, everything that we needed, it was really humbling,”
Adversity would strike again. His wound was not healing correctly. When the bone had come out of his flesh after the impact, it was splintered and shattered, causing complications. Zimmerman had to go back for another surgery.
“That was a huge setback,” Lindsey said.
When the doctors had cleaned the wound, they found an infection with bacteria in it.
“So, it just kind of sent us into a spiral a little bit because he had been on antibiotics for six months. We didn’t know if it was going to come back,” she said. “That was a very hard time.”
Doctors kept Zimmerman on antibiotics because they feared if they took a rod out that was stabilizing his knee, the infection might spread.
“The hardest thing in the world is the kid is in so much pain, you know, it was hard, even though he had a good attitude and he stuck with it. I felt so bad for him out there, if I could’ve given him my leg I would have, ” Scott said.
Zimmerman was still in rehab when Valor began its 2023 season. He watched as the team struggled on the field, eager to get in and play.
“He went from kind of sad to depressed and then angry after the losses, and he was just so frustrated,” Scott said.
But his knee was healed. There were no more setbacks and finally, he decided he was ready to go in and play, even though he could have used more time to recover.
“He said, ‘It hurts worse standing on the sideline watching my team lose than it does being out there helping so I’m playing next week, no matter what,’” Scott said.
So the family backed their son but still worried as he took to the field.
“Any time anyone would hit him or any of that I just would kind of get that feeling in my heart like ‘Oh, gosh. Please be okay,’” Lindsey said.
Zimmerman went in to play offensive guard for the first time in his high school career.
“He’s gonna go play some offensive line, that’s kind of a cool story,” McGatlin said. “He’s never played offensive line before, at least in high school, so it’s kind of cool to see what he’s doing.”
Zimmerman was excited about the opportunity for a new challenge.
“It was a lot like leading up to the first game, just like learning the entire offense. I haven’t played offense since little league, so just learning,” he said.
In Zimmerman’s final regular season high school game, he exclusively played guard. Heading into the playoffs, Zimmerman hopes he can get back on the field as a linebacker and offensive lineman.
The Legend Titans eliminated McGatlin’s Eagles in the second round of the playoffs after Valor received a first-round bye. It was a heartbreaking 20-13 loss, ending their season and Zimmerman’s high school career.
Despite Valor’s playoff loss, Zimmerman showed off in his final game as an Eagle. He took snaps on both sides of the ball as a linebacker and guard. On offense, he recorded quite a few pancake blocks and was a force racking up tackles on the defensive side. All of this while not being 100% healthy.
Asked what his favorite memory of high school football would be, Zimmerman said: “Honestly just being with the boys, just having that brotherhood, and that camaraderie and going on the team retreats and just us all being together and just growing so close as a team.”
After every game, Valor circles up their team and anyone else wanting to join and pray. After their upset playoff loss, this was an extraordinary moment regardless of the defeat; for many Valor players, including Zimmerman, this was their last football game as a Valor Eagle.
Tears were shed, players and coaches hugged and pictures were taken. Despite the loss, many were happy to share the field one last time. Now, Zimmerman looks toward his future.
“That’s been my dream since I was a little kid is to play college football and this injury might have been a setback,” he said. “But honestly, I’m just going to kind of trust what God’s plan is for me. I have one offer to play at the University of Northern Colorado, so I was really excited to get that, but I’m just kind of keeping an open mind.”
He continued: “And, honestly, if there’s no football in my future then I’m fine with that, then I know that something else big is going to come from it.”
This story is a capstone project from journalism students with the University of Colorado-Boulder’s CU News Corps. Colorado Community Media advises News Corps students.