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HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

Bellingham senior is making a healthy return to the gridiron

Shoulder injuries kept Bellingham High School’s Britt Ryan off the gridiron for two seasons, but he’s been cleared to return for his senior year.Scott Eisen for The Boston Globe

When he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in eighth grade, Britt Ryan began listening to his body. In time, he learned to interpret what he was being told: times when his body was in distress, and insulin or Gatorade was needed to balance his sugars.

Which is why he knew something wasn’t right even as others told him there was nothing to fear.

As a sophomore on the junior varsity football team at Bellingham High School in 2013, Ryan dove for a loose ball in a game against Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High and came up lame. An opposing player had landed awkwardly on his shoulder. The pain didn’t feel normal.

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“When it first happened, the trainer at Whittier told me it was a stinger, so I went back in,” recalled the 5-foot-9, 160-pound Ryan. “I went to go throw my hands up, and I just went full numb.”

In a game of yards, Ryan’s last two seasons instead have been defined by four inches — the length of the incision across his left shoulder where doctors affixed tendon to bone with two screws that will forever remain a part of him.

Bellingham High School football running back Britt Ryan (left) leaps for a pass in practice last week. SCOTT EISEN/FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

But two years later Ryan is once again prepared for game action, with the Blackhawks kicking off their schedule Friday night against St. Mary’s of Lynn.

He will start at cornerback and running back — his first time at the position since Pop Warner — and the sheer physical demands of each position will test his shoulder’s recovery.

Like Lexington High’s Dennis Bromley and Belmont High’s Chris Piccione, who are both returning from significant knee injuries, Ryan has been afforded a clean bill of health on the eve of his senior season. It offers a chance for a new beginning, an opportunity to mend the disappointments of the past.

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“My doctor told me that obviously my chances are high of it happening again,” Ryan said, “but I can’t let that slow me down. It’s senior year; might as well go all-out.”

Ryan went all-out on the play that started this all, though his initial prognosis was promising. He completed physical therapy and was out of his sling in time for the 2013-14 basketball season.

But then he dislocated the same shoulder during a game in January 2014, and chipped a bone in the process. Doctors needed to take bone from the back of his shoulder blade and insert the two screws into his shoulder to allow the injury to heal.

Due to his diabetes, Ryan needed to be monitored by hospital staff the night leading up to his surgery, originally slated for April 2014, but then pushed back by two months.

Anticipating a lengthy rehabilitation , he spent his junior season on the sideline.

So after a year of meticulous physical therapy, Ryan begins his senior season with little to live up to and everything to gain. Despite his shoulder woes, the former wideout jumped at the chance to play running back, making the Blackhawks’ attack more dynamic.

“He’s probably one of the most athletic kids in this school, never mind just on this team,” said Dan Haddad, in his first season as Bellingham’s head football coach.

“He is a breakaway threat; he is a receiving threat; he can do just about everything that you’d want on the field. To have that athletic ability back, where in years past we haven’t had it, makes everyone else better.”

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There is no good time for injury, but Lexington’s Bromley was particularly irked by the timing of his: The Minutemen were trailing Arlington in their regular-season finale last October, and needed to win to secure a spot in the postseason.

Lexington went on to win the game, but lost Bromley in the process to a torn meniscus in his knee.

“It was extremely difficult,” said Bromley. “I couldn’t even get up and had to sit and watch. We were losing the game in the first half, and I had to sit and watch and not do anything about it.

“It was terrible. It’s almost indescribable how awful it was not being able to play with the team.”

At Belmont High, Piccione had played basketball and baseball before trying football for the first time in 2014, his 6-foot-1, 295-pound frame easing his transition onto the Marauders’ offensive and defensive lines.

He was injured the day before Belmont played Arlington in Week 4, his knee dislocating for the third time since middle school. He received a tibial tubercle colostomy — a procedure in which his patella tendons were moved to the center of his knee with the help of a stent and two screws.

As Bromley and Piccione prepare to return to the gridiron, their confidence in the stability of their knees is also strengthening.

“It’s kind of in the back of my mind always, but one of the best ways to get hurt is to be thinking about it and favoring it,” Piccione said. “I’m doing my best to play as though it’s not an issue and play with correct technique. The rest should take care of itself.”

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Neither Ryan, nor Bromley, nor Piccione have cemented college plans, and with uncertain futures, no player is guaranteed more than this upcoming season.

It’s why this senior season means so much to each of them. Football was once taken away from them. This fall offers them once last chance to take it back.

“I’m going to go out there and work my absolute hardest so we can win games and go to the playoffs again so we get another shot at it,” Bromley said.

“It’s my senior year, and I’m a 5-foot-9, 185-pound offensive lineman. I’m not going to be playing much football in college.

“This is really my last shot to play football at a meaningful level. I’m extremely motivated to go out there and win.”

An eye on 5

Five head coaches who hope to make their mark with their new programs this season:

Tom Bourdeau , Rivers School: A former assistant at Stonehill and Boston College, the 2007 Colby College grad takes over for Dan Keohane in Weston. Bourdeau was the AD at Marian High in Framingham the past two years.

Mike Coppola , Newton North: The 1972 Newton High grad steps in for the retiring Peter Capodilupo, whom he worked under as an offensive assistant the past two seasons. He was also head coach at Austin Prep and a 14-year assistant for Charlie Stevenson at Xaverian.

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Dan Haddad , Bellingham: Familiarity should benefit Haddad and the Blackhawks in their first season together. Haddad has been the town’s Pop Warner director for the last 18 years, and replaces Dan MacLean after coaching Bellingham’s junior varsity squad for the past four seasons.

Tom Sousa , Groton-Dunstable: Sousa joins the Crusaders after 24 years and three state titles with Chelmsford, serving the Lions as their defensive coordinator for the past decade. He said his goals are to build on the solid foundation left by his predecessor, Derek Asadoorian, and to grow the youth program.

Dave Tinglof , Westborough: The Rangers had just one winning campaign (2009) in their last 11 seasons, but Tinglof is no stranger to turnarounds. Prior to succeeding Mark Ellis, Tinglof coached at West Boylston for 10 seasons, guiding the Lions to a Super Bowl in 2012.


Andrew MacDougall can be reached at ajmacdougall@gmail.com.