Pomona’s Moretti loses senior season to torn ACL

Pomona lineman Jake Moretti tackles Valor Christian’s Dylan McCaffrey in the Class 5A championship game last December.

The shock of it has worn off, even if the disappointment of losing his senior season hasn’t completely.

Jake Moretti, the star lineman at Pomona High School who is headed to Ohio State to play football, has had to shift the focus. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee at a camp at Ohio State this summer. That cost him this coming season. Now rehabilitation, among other things, is what he concentrates on the most.

“I really wish I could be out there with the guys, but it’s a part of the sport and you’ve got to find the positive in it,” he said. The positive? “Being able to watch my little brother (play football), he’s a freshman,” Moretti said. “Maybe being able to help my teammates out and enjoy the game, look at it from a different perspective.”

Pomona coach Jay Madden said losing Moretti for the season is not something that can be remedied by just one player stepping up. The Panthers have the experience to get back to the state title game, which they narrowly lost last season.

“The thing about Jake is he plays both ways, he’s a first-team All-American, he’s first team all-state at any position that he’d play, and his leadership is unbelievable,” Madden said. “Each kid is going to have to do a little bit more. Because not one guy has a chance of replacing, in my opinion, the best lineman that I’ve ever seen since I’ve been coaching in Colorado.”

Asked how long he expects to be out, Moretti didn’t give a time line but said: “It’s quite a while. We’re seeing how progress goes, physical therapy and all of that. … It’s going to be kind of a long road.”

He is grateful for the support he has received from Ohio State.

“They’ve been amazing through this,” he said. “After the injury, they came in and talked to me. They reassured everything. So now I’m just focusing on rehab and getting everything ready to go for up there.”