Friday night lights lit up on Sept. 5, shining across the football field. Like any other game, Senior Riley Matlock was on and charged through the other team carrying the ball in his hands. Matlock quickly traced his eyes up while lying on the ground.

He stood tall after being trampled by the opposing team.

Feeling the adrenaline rush through his body, his body was numb to pain. Matlock walked off the field and felt as balanced as he often does, but the pain quickly snuck up behind him. 

When the next morning rolled around, his ankle was swollen and stiff and he was unable to move it without agonizing pain. 

Matlock’s world was flipped upside down when he visited the doctors and learned it wasn’t just pain in his ankle.

It was a tear in his ACL.

“I didn’t think it would have happened at all in my life, but I was shocked that it did happen,” Matlock said.

After finding out about his ACL, Matlock needed to make a decision on what surgery he would have to do.

Rather than going straight into ACL surgery, Matlock’s mom, Stacey Matlock, took a moment to slow down and research each possible surgeries he could do. Stacey discussed with many of her coworkers based on previous experiences.

At the time, Matlock and Stacey were desperate to ensure he would be able to play his senior year of baseball. So they came across ACL reconstruction surgery that worked for others and would confirm Matlock was up and ready to get back on the diamond.

“I kind of allowed him to think through what he wanted to do because it would be all (up) to him,” Stacey said.

From hearing how the surgeries worked, Stacey and Matlock eventually decided to do the surgery on both of the knees on Oct. 6, at 8:30 am.

This surgery included cutting open his opposite knee to replace his ACL with his patella tendon. However, by taking both of his knees out at the same time, it would make a tough process of recovery. But due to how fast the recovery time would be and seeing how effective it was for other people, they decided to follow through with it.

After his surgery, Matlock had a difficult time adjusting and healing. Matlock was on bed rest for over a week and was also hooked up to a leg machine to keep movement in his legs.

“You lose both legs instead of just one, but the pros of it is that I feel like it’s better to do it on the other knee because your less likely to traumatize that knee,” Matlock said.

Through the process, crutches became his only source to walk since he did not have the strength in his legs to stand himself up.

Head baseball coach Brendan Dudas had the same injury as Matlock in high school. So Dudas encouraged him to stay on track with physical therapy to recover quicker. 

Therefore, as soon as Matlock got out of surgery, he began therapy. It took him four months and 14 days to fully recover from the injury.

“From the point that he tore it, it was immediately he wanted to play baseball still,” Dudas said. “So it was just head down focused on getting back and better than ever.”

Matlock had the urge to get back into the game quickly but did not rush into things. He took his time taking care of his body, and he knew he would eventually have to play the game differently this year.

Hurting himself again comes at a big risk of playing his senior year. To prevent him from that, he makes sure he listens to his body and is careful about overdoing anything. 

As he gradually made his way back into practice, some things came with a change, such as stretching a lot more and taking some time off.

In a blink of an eye, Matlock played in his first game on March 30, but it felt unfamiliar. Each inning became longer than usual and he became weaker in the legs. Even though he struggled throughout the game, he persevered in his position until the end.

“However I did (feel) pretty much back to how I used to (feel) because I think my body is getting used to it a little bit,” Matlock said.

Matlock will have one last ride with the Cards and will continue to capture every moment. He hopes to win a sectional championship.

With these plans, he will also stay consistent with keeping his body healthy throughout the rest of the season before he steps into college. 

Before Matlock’s injury, he had division one offers for baseball, but they got held back from him once he tore his ACL. 

Even though he had big dreams of going D1, Kankakee Community College noticed his potential and gave him an opportunity to play for

them.

Once he got back into the groove of things, he knew the right coach would find him and give him the chance to get on the field in college, and Kankakee gave him an opportunity to make his dreams become real.

“I knew that if a coach would trust me enough and would be able to understand my situation, they would have picked me up,” Matlock said. “And that did happen, so I’m grateful for that.”

For college, he hopes to grow as a powerful player and will let the ball take him where he belongs.

“My goals for college is to get bigger, stronger, faster, better at baseball overall and become a better player,” Matlock said, “Then see where that (Kankakee can) take me out (to) D1 or pro.”