When you’ve coached for as long as Bridgeport High School’s John Cole, it takes a lot to surprise you. Senior Devin Vandergrift managed to pull off the feat to the decades-long coach.

 

Not too long after the Indians captured the Class AA state championship title against Bluefield in December, Vandergrift showed up wearing a sling. When Cole inquired what had happened, he was stunned.

 

“The only thing not totally surprising when I saw him is that he had gotten hurt the year before so seeing him in that didn’t catch me off guard until he told me,” said Cole. “Once he told me, because he didn’t complain after he told me it happened and you couldn’t tell anything wrong in any games, it was definitely a bit of a surprise.”

 

The surprise was a big one. Turns out in week eight in a road contest against Elkins Vandergrift, who said he had left shoulder surgery following his junior season, was injured again.  

 

“I went in to make a tackle and felt my arm pop out and once I was on the sidelines it got popped back into place,” said Vandergrift. “I was in some pain, but I finished out the game.”

 

Vandergrift would soon find out why he had some pain. An MRI revealed his right shoulder, the same one the Indians starting quarterback used to throw with, had a tear in the labrum and torn back of the rotator cuff.

 

The options were on the table. He could have surgery the following week was one option. The other was to keep playing and have option after the season or if pain became too big of a factor.

 

“You wonder about football, but they gave me the option that if I could withstand the pain that I could play through it,” said Vandergrift. “I felt like I just couldn’t miss any more of my senior year and I’m glad that was the decision I made since we ultimately won it all. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss a second of what we went through as a team. I knew even before the season was over I wouldn’t get the time back.”

 

Vandergrift did therapy on his shoulder but stopped once the playoffs started. He decided to just give it his all.

 

“I wore a brace underneath my pads that you really couldn’t tell was on. It was decided not to tell anyone; not even Coach Cole,” said Vandergrift. “For the most part it never really bothered me. There were a couple of times in the (28-8 quarterfinal) game against Mingo Central, with them being a throwing offense, that I tackled guys and could feel it. Other than that, I didn’t let I bother me too much. No one knew about it.”

 

Understand, shoulder injuries are common in football. Even at the high school level, players will pop a shoulder out during a game and return – often during the same series. Other times, the pain is too much to return. In other words, Vandergrift’s situation was not unusual and didn’t set off alarms.

 

“We’ve had a few happen, but not too many where guys went right back in,” said Cole. “The thing that makes it even more impressive as far as his competitive streak is, we moved him to safety at the end of the year because of injuries and he excelled. The only problem is you have to make more hits because you’re making more tackles there. Again, he never complained or said a word. The only thing he did, ironically, after the Elkins game was just get better.”

 

He cemented his time under center as quarterback after a push from the second-string signal caller. He took on more responsibility on defense and rarely missed any big plays during the Tribe’s postseason run – including coming up with a huge interception late in the fourth quarter of the title game against Bluefield that all but sealed it.

 

“That interception made me realize it was all worth everything. The injury could have stopped me from being part of that moment and realizing that humbled me,” said Vandergrift. “I’m glad I did what I did.”

 

While Cole and no one else wants to see any of their players hurt or hurting, he said the entire situation doesn’t surprise him. He also said losing Vandergrift would have been a big blow at that stage of the season.

 

“I look back at the game he told me he was injured, and it was a heck of a game. That was the game where he cemented who was going to get the snaps the rest of the way,” said Cole. “The amazing thing is, to the best of my knowledge, tell anyone about his injury just that he was fine.

 

“He’s just so competitive. I said that all year and I don’t even like, as a coach, to use that phrase. The thing is that it stuck with him even before I saw him in that sling,” Cole continued. “It’s just extraordinary what he did and what he was going through when he did it.”

 

There is a bit of a downside. Vandergrift was looking at playing college football and some colleges were looking at him to be part of their programs. West Virginia Wesleyan, Alderson Broaddus, Marietta and Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) showed interest in him playing defensive back, while Waynesburg looked at him at quarterback.

 

“I knew I was injured and sat down and talked with my parents a long time about whether to play college,” said Vandergrift. “The decision was just to get schooling. If I re-injure it then I could see an impact on whatever future endeavors I may go after, so my focus is on academics at the next level. My last game is the Bluefield game.

 

Now, Vandergrift is out of his sling. He’s on the mend. He’s at Bridgeport Physical Therapy working with Jimmy Davis. He’s on his way to a complete recovery, graduation and the next stage of life that includes a focus on business at whatever school he chooses.

 

“No, I wouldn’t change it,” he said when asked if he’d do anything different. “I got the ending I wanted.”

 

Along the way, Bridgeport High School got its 10^th state football championship.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Devin Vandergrift during the introductions of the Class AA title game, while he's shown post shoulder surgery in the second image. In the third photo, Vandergrift gets ready to hand the ball off, while he scampers for a key third down conversion in the fourth photo. In the fifth photo, Vandergrift hauls in an interception in the fourth quarter against Bluefield and is interviewed by WDTV following the contest. All state title photos by Ben Queen Photography. Photo of Vandergrift in a sling courtesy of Devin Vandergrift.