It was a moment Justin Connors had long anticipated -- his return to football.
But at times, the Belvidere junior could be forgiven for thinking it would never happen. A practically biblical litany of plagues kept him away from the sport he loved.
So when, at South Hunterdon on a Saturday night three weeks ago, the lights literally went on again for Connors, nothing powered by electricity burned as bright as a heart with a passion for football.
“I felt like I had started playing all over again,” Connors said. “It was very fun. I loved every second of it.”
And as Belvidere (1-2 conference and overall) heads into a Friday night (7) showdown with local rival Voorhees (2-2) coming to visit in a Big Central Conference Division 1A game, Connors will be trying to use that passion and intensity and love for football to turn around the County Seaters' season after two straight losses.
The Vikings are a Group 3 school, a size level Belvidere doesn’t often face, but Connors said that won’t be an issue.
“We’re hyped up, we’re ready,” said Connors, a 6-0, 185-pound White Township resident who starts at running back and a hybrid linebacker/defensive end. “We want to show them what Belvidere football is all about.”You might, maybe, say that a player such as Connors - hard-nosed, football-loving, two-way starter -- is what Belvidere football is all about.
County Seater coach Jeff Kolodziejczyk probably wouldn’t disagree.
“Justin is a vocal leader as a junior who the kids respect, and a leader on both offense and defense,” Kolodziejczyk said. “Justin really prepped hard for this season considering the circumstances and we had big plans for him. He lives and breathes football.”
So it’s understandable that when the air of football was choked off, Connors was disappointed. To put it mildly.
“He was very upset that couldn’t contribute last year,” Kolodziejczyk said. “He would have been a two-way starter. He would get emotional at times.”
Given everything, Connors had reason to.
After playing special teams as a freshman, he was, as Kolodziejczyk noted, ready for a big 2019. Those dreams ended quickly.
“In our tri-scrimmage against Newton and Vernon, I went up to catch a ball, and my leg slipped out from under me,” Connors said. “I landed on it wrong. I felt something pop. I knew right away it was bad.”
The fear was it was a torn ACL, but it turned out to be “only” a broken leg. It was enough to put Connors on the shelf until January.
No fun.
“Sometimes missing football really affected me,” he said. “I just had to fight through it and focus on the task at hand. I did a lot of upper body workouts every day - I’d ask my teammates to hand me the dumbbells, and I had some weights at home. Then when my leg healed, I had physical therapy.”
So Connors, finally healthy in January and ready to go -- and almost as soon as he was ready to start serious training again with his teammates, the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
“We had a lot of on-line meetings and stuff, and sometimes some of us would get together, with proper social distancing of course, and go over some things,” he said.
Connors knew what he needed to work on over the long spring and summer.
“I didn’t think I was among the most muscular kids, and I am still not, but I knew I had to get stronger and get faster,” he said.
So Connors put in the time, and kept his focus, as the County Seaters reassembled in September, football awaited at last, with a home opener Oct. 2 against Manville.
“First time in two years, on the field for the whole game,” said Connors, remembering his freshman season on special teams. “I just wanted to be on the field along side my brothers, my teammates.”
But, once again, Connors would be denied as a COVID-19 outbreak among Newton, a Belvidere scrimmage partner, forced the County Seaters into quarantine and wiped out the opener.
Connors might have had a right to grumble.
“It was very frustrating,” he said. “I’d get kind of impatient with everything, but I knew my time would come. I just had to wait it out.”Finally, that night at South Hunterdon, Connors' time came.
“At first I was a little nervous, a little hesitant but then I grew back right into it; I only know one way to play football.”
One way.
“Justin likes to initiate contact on both sides of the ball,” Kolodziejczyk said.
That way.
“I love contact,” he said. “I started off playing soccer first, but I figured out that was not the sport for me,” he said. “I went out for football and loved it immediately.”
Belvidere fans love that Connors loves the sport, given his enthusiasm and high level of play. In last week’s 28-22 loss to Bound Brook, Connors made 10 tackles on defense and ran for 62 yards, but was disappointed in the result in a game the Seaters could well have won.
“We can’t let one of two plays dictate how we play the rest of the game,” said Connors, who’d like to continue playing football in college. “After we give up two scores, we kind of give up. Everybody has to be focused all the time.”
Focused on getting the job done in ways that may not show on a stat sheet, either.
“I don’t think yards and touchdowns measure how well you play,” Connors said. “I think it’s more how hard you run, how many people you hit, how many blocks you carry out.”
On Friday night, it’d be a good bet that Justin Connors measures up well by that standard -- after all, it’s his time at last.
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Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com.
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Comeback to football complete at last for Belvidere’s Connors - lehighvalleylive.com
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