Alex Baker can still vividly recall the play that wiped out his junior year of high school football.
Baker and the Carl Junction Bulldogs were finishing up a final scrimmage at the Bentonville (Ark.) West team camp last summer when the life-altering incident took place.
“It happened towards the end of the day,” Baker recalled. “I took a snap, faked a handoff and started running. And then I got tackled in a weird position.”
Just like that, the unfortunate play would end Baker’s hopes of leading the Bulldogs on the field in 2019.
“I ended up dislocating my ankle,” Baker said. “I went into shock, so I really didn’t know what happened after that. I remember looking at my foot and thinking to myself, ‘Oh, that’s not good.’”
A trip by ambulance to a local hospital followed. Baker had severe injuries to his right leg, with a broken ankle and fractures in both the tibia and fibula.
“I had surgery the next week,” Baker said.
Baker could only watch from the sideline for the entirety of the fall season.
And instead of helping Doug Buckmaster’s Bulldogs win games in the always-tough Central Ozark Conference from the quarterback position, Baker was busy rehabbing his leg.
“I was on a knee scooter and a boot for two months,” Baker said. “I started doing physical therapy at Mercy in Carthage and started walking with just the boot. I did a lot of rehab after I got out of the boot. Eventually I could do stuff on my own.”
The son of Stacie and Mark Baker admitted sitting out last fall was tough, especially because he was expected to be a key performer.
“It was pretty hard,” Baker said. “I’d never had a big injury like that. It was really weird for me to be on the sidelines and not be able to help my team.”
Before the injury, Baker had high hopes for his junior season. It’s not hard to see why. He suited up with the varsity squad as a freshman and then started five games at quarterback as a sophomore, throwing for 776 yards and six touchdowns.
“I started out as a wide receiver and then halfway through the season Coach Buck made a switch,” Baker said of his sophomore campaign. “I got thrown in there at QB. It was kind of a hard transition because I was so young, but it made me push to get better. It really made me push to learn, and the upperclassmen helped me learn the offense a lot better.”
With the injury now behind him, Baker and the Bulldogs have been preparing for the upcoming season.
“It feels amazing being back out there,” Baker said. “I’ve definitely learned to not take things for granted, first being injured and then missing baseball season because of COVID.”
A member of National Honor Society and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Baker is a three-sport standout for the Bulldogs, also suiting up in basketball and baseball. He’s an all-district outfielder on the diamond.
“I definitely want to play sports in college,” Baker said. “I haven’t really decided whether that’s going to be football or baseball.”
What Baker is sure of, however, is that going through the injury recovery process has made him stronger, physically and mentally.
Now, with his senior season about to begin, Baker hopes to lead the Bulldogs to a stellar season while making up for lost time.
“I’m definitely motivated for this season,” Baker said. “Seeing a lot of colleges cancelling their seasons has been scaring me. I just really hope we have a season.”
“My goal is to help the team win as many games as possible,” Baker added. “It’s my senior season, so I want to have as much fun as possible with my friends who I’ve been playing with forever. It’s our last go-round together. I want to go out on a high note.”
