KINGSLEY — Kingsley’s Wing-T offense required quarterback Gavyn Merchant to frequently hide the ball as he ran out fakes.
But for the last three weeks of the Stags’ Division 6 football state championship season, he hid a lot more.
The senior kept practicing and playing through a myriad of injuries, including two torn ligaments in his knee, a fractured leg, torn meniscus and later on a pair of broken ribs sustained late in the championship game at Ford Field in Detroit.
“Every second of the pain was worth it,” said Merchant, adding he has no lasting effects. “I’d do it all over again if I could.”
Injuries are no stranger to the Kingsley senior, who boasts that he met his parents’ health insurance deductible all by himself each of the last three years.
The three-time all-state wrestler dealt with various injuries over the course of his career, undergoing wrist surgery as a sophomore for a carpal tunnel injury to his wrist and having some floating cartilage taken out of the same knee following his junior wrestling season.
“He doesn’t shy away from tough battles,” Kingsley fifth-year wrestling coach Corey Crew said. “Most of the time, you don’t even know he’s injured, because he doesn’t want to tell you.”
Merchant took a late hit from Almont defensive end Brent Corneau after lofting a third-and-10 pass to Max Goethals for 18 yards that would lead to an Eli Graves 6-yard touchdown run to seal the championship game’s outcome. The Raiders were hit with a roughing-the-passer penalty on top of the 18-yard Goethals reception.
After the initial elation of completing a big pass that greatly elevated Kingsley’s chances of winning, Merchant fell to the ground, then limped to the sideline, holding his left side.
“He was having a tough time getting to the sideline,” Kingsley football coach Tim Wooer said. “You could see he was in a lot of pain.”
Merchant would go right back in and play the game’s final eight offensive snaps. He then attended the postgame press conference without showing discomfort.
“He’s one of the best wrestlers the state of Michigan has to offer,” Bally Sports Detroit play-by-play commentator Matt Shepard said as Merchant returned to the Stags’ huddle after the bone-cracking hit. “It’s going to take more than that to get him out of the game.”
Merchant hides the ball well, and he hides injuries just as well. He broke the two lower ribs on his left side from Corneau’s helmet.
Almont loaded up the left side, allowing Corneau to get a blind-side hit on the Stags QB long after he’d let the ball go.
“I don’t think anyone knew what kind of pain he was in until the season was over,” Wooer said. “He has an incredible pain tolerance.”
Merchant — who threw for 1,274 yards, 17 touchdowns, only four interceptions and ran for four more TDs — didn’t even know the extent of the injuries until after the season.
The night of the championship contest, many players went to the home of teammates James and Jon Pearson to rewatch the game. Many ended up sleeping over. Merchant said he barely slept, and even then, only while being flat on the floor. The next morning, he called his parents and told them he needed help and ought to get checked out by a doctor.
Merchant didn’t even wear a knee brace or extra protection for the knee after hurting it.
“I wasn’t worried about my knee then,” Merchant said. “I was worried more about winning and leading our team. Wrestling never crossed my mind. I was all in with football. I wasn’t going to let my teammates or coach Wooer down.”
He’ll wear a knee brace for his return to the wrestling mat.
The knee injury and broken tibia came in the Manistee district championship game at Rodes Field in Kingsley. Mariners defensive tackle Isaiah Davis inadvertently rolled up on Merchant’s left leg. Manistee threw a blitz at the Stags, outnumbering them. Kingsley picked up the blitzing linebacker, but Davis came free.
“As soon as it happened, I though, ‘Oh, not good,’” Merchant said.
Testing after the season revealed about a two-inch vertical fracture near the top of his left tibia.
Between the ligament, meniscus and tibia damage, he said he had trouble planting his left leg to throw. When rolling left, he’d have to throw off his back foot.
“My line did a great job all year protecting me,” Merchant said.
Merchant said the pain was dull until game time, then went away. It intensified after the final horn.
“It hurt quite a bit, but once kickoff happened, it’s just adrenaline,” Merchant said. “Then after the game, I felt like I wanted to die.”
Gavyn’s father, Josh, is an assistant coach with the Stags. After Gavyn ran a QB keeper in practice during the playoffs, he suggested to Wooer that they hold off running those plays. Josh Merchant knew something was up with Gavyn, but he didn’t realize the extent.
The Stags also started limiting Merchant’s reps in some practice drills.
“He did not want to sit out those things,” Wooer said. “You had to literally grab him and remove him. He’s not the only kid on the team like that. We call it ‘Kingsley Tough.’”
Merchant said team doctors Nathan March and Justin Hollander and athletic trainer Emily Weber tended to his aches and pains as well as they could, but he admitted he didn’t reveal the full extent of his pain to them for fear of not playing the season out. Stags players presented all three with autographed Kingsley helmets at the team’s championship celebration.
March started with the team in 2005, the year the Stags won their first championship. He stepped down as team doctor this year after Kingsley’s second state title, as his son will be a freshman athlete at Traverse City St. Francis next fall.
Record-Eagle Football Player of the Year Eli Graves suffered a shoulder sprain against Reed City in the semifinals, though that injury was managed with therapy. Graves ended up running 33 times for 210 yards at Ford Field with four touchdowns and three two-point conversion runs to tie the state finals record with 30 points.
Senior defensive end Grant Kolbusz suffered a broken collarbone in Week Two against Gaylord. Following surgery, he returned for the Week Seven matchup at Ogemaw Heights and played the rest of the season.
“Ten years ago, if you have a broken collarbone, you’re done for the season,” Wooer said. “That’s a testament to modern medicine.”
Kolbusz made four tackles in the state final.
“Knowing Gavyn, he never showed it,” Kolbusz said. “You could maybe see a little limp here or there in practice, but you couldn’t really tell. He did so well hiding it. He didn’t want to let his teammates down.”
Merchant had surgery Dec. 22. Doctors discovered the medial and lateral collateral ligaments were healing on their own and removed the torn part of the meniscus. The broken tibia and ribs also healed on their own.
Merchant returned to wrestling practice last Tuesday, aiming to hit the mat for the Stags’ home dual meet Wednesday against Whitehall.
“I noticed at the state finals game when he was holding his rubs,” Stags wrestling coach Corey Crew said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’”
Merchant owns a 116-7 wrestling record, and he could very well end his four-year career with single-digit losses over four seasons. Two of his three seasons resulted in two or fewer losses.
He’s finished as state runner-up twice, as a freshman at 112 pounds for his only loss during a 32-1 season and last spring as a junior at 126, ending with a 47-2 mark. He went 37-4 as a sophomore, taking fourth in the state at 119 pounds.
“He’s a tough kid,” Crew said. “He’s not one that’s going to miss a lot of time.”