Kuchinski returns to savor senior season
HARTFORD – Hartford’s Seth Kuchinski has been on both ends of the spectrum this season.
You wouldn’t have wanted to feel his pain. You wouldn’t dare miss experiencing his joy.
Football is unique when it comes to high school sports. Players spend months getting ready nine or 10 games. The really lucky and really good ones get to play 14, reach the state final and experience what it’s like playing at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.
There is no spring ball in Wisconsin and there are no leagues where someone can get their fullypadded, 11-on-11 tackle football fix. The season means everything.
Kuchinski understands. Ten days before the
start of the season, the Orioles senior suffered a dislocated elbow that would have sidelined him for the year were he not so persistent. Instead, he returned to action after about 41⁄2 weeks and then returned to form and helped Hartford equal its most successful season since 2010.
“Coach always preaches to me that it’s not how hard you get knocked down, it’s about how come back and how you get back up,” Kuchinski said. “That stuck with me.”
When Hartford (8-2) takes the field on the road at Menasha (9-1) at 7 p.m. Friday night, he’ll be in the starting lineup at middle linebacker. This is his third year as a starter, in the season that almost didn’t happen.
In August, Kuchinski was going through a blocking drill when he lost his balance. He reached out with his right arm to brace his fall, but when he hit the ground, he knew something was wrong. The pain was intense and when he removed his left hand from his right arm, the sight wasn’t good.
“It was pretty messed up,” he said.
The first doctor said Kuchinski him would miss the whole year. The next one said he might return for the playoffs. Still not satisfied with his diagnosis, Kuchinski visited yet another physician.
It was about three weeks after the injury, and this time the doctor didn’t dismiss the idea of speedier return.
“I went in there a week ahead of time because I wanted to play in the Slinger game (Sept. 8) and he was like, no it doesn’t look too good,” Kuchinski said. “Come back in a week.”
Kuchinski left the office with some hope and a list of exercises to strengthen the joint, work he did with the trainer as his teammates practiced. He returned to the doctor the next week and was cleared for practice.
Kuchinski was examined again on the day of the Slinger game (Sept. 8), hoping to be cleared against Hartford’s chief rival.
He left the office with good news.
“When he said I’m able to return for this game, it brought joy to my heart,” Kuchinski said. “I was almost crying because I was so happy.”
Kuchinski had started 14 games as a sophomore and junior and last season received all-conference honorable mention in the Wisconsin Little Ten. In his absence, senior Ethan Chivas moved from outside linebacker to inside, and Ben Wilson, another senior, filled Chivas’ spot.
The plan was for the 6foot, 205-pound Kuchinski to slowly be worked back into action, but after Slinger jumped out to a 14-0 lead, he took the field and has been in the lineup ever since.
“This team is really unique because they’re so close,” Hartford coach John Redders said. “You talk about a brotherhood of players. They all hang out. They all do so much stuff together. When one’s down they’re all down.”
That night Hartford rallied from that early deficit to win, 24-21, and beat their rival for the second straight year.
The Orioles went on to finish third in their first season in the North Shore Conference, and with an 8-2 record are one win away from their first nine-win season since 2008 when the team went 10-2.
Kuchinski, meanwhile, has picked up steam. He has led the team in tackles the last two games when the Orioles beat previously undefeated Whitefish Bay, 28-7, in Week 9 and knocked off West Bend East, 38-10, in the first round of the playoffs.
Since returning to action, Kuchinski is second on the team in tackles with 40 to senior linebacker Myles Zimdars, who leads the team overall with 70 tackles and has 47 in the seven games since Kuchinski’s return.
A senior season that once appeared to be lost will end in the playoffs.
“It might be your last time playing high-school ball or you could move to state maybe,” Kuchinski said. “But it’s just so much excitement and at the same time so much sadness because you’re high school career is coming to an end with all your buddies and everybody you’ve played with since fifth grade.
“For the most part it’s all joy and fun.”