Healthy return for Arrows LB

As his football team struggled late against Belmont Hill last November, Bryce Gallagher’s frustrations reached a boiling point from the sideline. All year the St. Sebastian star outside linebacker was forced to watch after undergoing surgery for a broken foot. Game after game, all the senior could do was coach from the sideline and hope the players would perform the way he would. So, once the Arrows fell 2120 to add another loss to a forgettable season, Gallagher felt powerless and hated having to see the disappointed faces of his teammates again.

This year, though, the senior is mostly healthy. The St. Sebastian defense is much more functional with its leader back in the mix, and it has helped the Arrows reach a 3-0 mark heading into Saturday’s matchup against Governor’s Academy. All is good with Gallagher and the team right now.

And yet, the frustration of last year is still fresh in Gallagher’s mind.

“(Sitting) was frustrating for me, especially because (my teammates) were losing such close games that they really should have been winning,” he said. “So to sit there and watch my brothers struggle like that and not be able to do anything about it was real hard for me.”

Fresh or not, that memory doesn’t define this year.

With Gallagher back in the fold, the defense has allowed just three points to date this season. The Arrows have won by at least 20 points each game, too. Compare that to close losses while allowing around 20 points per game without Gallagher last year, and head coach Bob Souza is left thinking about how different it is having his star defender back.

“He has been such a great player for us,” Souza said. “I thought our kids played well last year given the amount of injuries we had, but not having him on the field was a huge gap in the defense. ... We really missed quite a bit not having him out there.”

At 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, the senior is quick. He has good instincts. Most of all, he just makes plays when others can’t, and serves as a great leader in the meantime. That’s what helped him land a commitment to Northwestern, and what also made his absence last year so hard felt.

That absence started in the 2017 preseason, as Gallagher remembers jamming someone off the line of scrimmage in a passing scrimmage against Needham. That turned into a bit of a wrestling match, and it ended with Gallagher hearing a pop in his foot.

After a couple opinions, Gallagher found out he needed to have season-ending surgery for a Jones fracture in his fifth metatarsal, which he described as, “pretty devastating news.” That wouldn’t affect an offer he decided to sign with Northwestern to play Big-10 football next year, but thus began a transformative year for Gallagher.

No longer able to lead by example, the then-junior needed to step up his vocal leadership. And while head coach Bob Souza admits his first thought about the injury was “next man up,” he was depending on Gallagher to help the team with his words.

That’s exactly what happened, too, as Gallagher made a point to help out the younger players on the team filling in many injured starting roles.

“It was really a teaching moment,” Gallagher said. “I learned how to be more of a vocal leader, and how to lead from not playing by example. It was a blessing in disguise almost.”

With experienced vocal leadership under his arsenal now, Gallagher has become even more of an elite player in the area. He’s ready to join his brother, Blake, as linebackers for Northwestern with Blake currently serving as a starter.

But for now, Gallagher’s team is competing for a spot in the playoffs one year after faltering.

And Gallagher couldn’t be happier to be a part of it.