Waibel bounces back

LINCOLN — If a performance ever deserved a game ball, look no further than Bryson Waibel’s heroics under center in Lincoln’s inaugural football game on Aug. 31.

The Cardinals’ starting quarterback didn’t throw for 300 yards. He didn’t run for a pair of touchdowns. He didn’t orchestrate a game-winning drive or lead his team to victory.

His gutsy performance in Lincoln’s debut wasn’t about filling up the box score. It wasn’t about the outcome, an 18-14 loss to Appleton City.

It was about a kid who suffered a potential life-threatening injury and surprisingly returned later in the same season and made an impact.

Lincoln fans, coaches and players will remember the program’s first varsity game for different reasons.

For Waibel, who is The Democrat’s October Athlete of the Month, the memories carry long after the fans filed out of the stadium.

The 17-year-old, who connected with Stuart Brethower for the program’s first-ever touchdown, led the Cardinals to a 14-6 lead against Appleton City as the night was on course for a picture-perfect ending.

Waibel, though, couldn’t enjoy the momentum. A discomfort had surfaced on the left side of his abdomen after taking a hard tackle early in the fourth quarter.

The quarterback couldn’t mask the unbearable pain, throwing up uncontrollably on the sideline in the midst of his team fighting for a win.

“I stayed in for a couple of plays and tried to play through it, but I was hurting bad and couldn’t go in,” Waibel said. “Started throwing up, and I knew it wasn’t getting any better.”

The Cardinals lost on a late touchdown run by Appleton City’s Cameron Todd, but as the clock rolled to zero, Waibel’s night was far from done.

The pain grew and continued late into the night, prompting Waibel’s parents to make the half-hour drive north to Bothwell Regional Health Center.

“We were thinking it was a rib injury, and they could wrap it and give him something for the pain,” his mother, Carol Waibel, said. “We didn’t know it was serious.”

An X-ray and a CT scan revealed a spleen ready to rupture and a broken rib, and his blood pressure was rapidly dropping. Without a trauma surgeon on call at Bothwell, doctors made the decision to fly Waibel to St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City for immediate surgery,

Thousands of feet above his parents making the drive on U.S. Highway 50, the trip was hazy for the 17-year-old who was strapped into a stretcher with emergency medical technicians on hand.

After landing, his parents, still in the car, consented to surgery, which lasted an hour and a half.

Surgeons determined Waibel’s spleen was enlarged, twice the size of other people his age, and the rupture was bound to happen sometime or another.

The surgery left an 8-inch scar running from below his naval to just under his chest, which to put into context, is nearly twice the length of the lace stitching on a football.

During his four-day stay at the hospital, the popular student-athlete was greeted by coaches, among others, who awarded Waibel with a game ball that featured his teammates’ signatures and recognition of his touchdown pass to Brethower.

“The support from the community, coaches and school was amazing, Bryson’s father, Jeff Waibel, said. “There were so many people with Bryson in their prayers and we couldn’t have asked for much more. It showed us how close this town was, and it was just a great outpouring of kindness to our family.”

After his release, Waibel was bedridden for another three days before being cleared to go to school.

Doctors warned Waibel to steer clear of any contact for six weeks, which wasn’t a problem for him, considering his diminished weight and muscle mass limited him to lifting only eight pounds at a time.
His classmates, and even the principal on occasion, helped carry his backpack and lightened the load by keeping watch of what supplies he carried in the halls, Bryson Waibel said.
The gaunt 150-pound, 6-foot-2 junior continued to practice with the team, but couldn’t suit up and perform basic drills until at least Oct. 15.
“Doctors had told me my season was over, that I couldn’t play,” Waibel said. “Coaches had pretty much ruled me out for the whole season, but the decision was really based on how I was feeling each day.”

Waibel finally practiced for a week leading up to the season finale on Oct. 20 against Chilhowee. He was ruled out to play quarterback, but used his versatility and height to move over into the primary receiver position.

In front of the home fans, Waibel and Brethower displayed their on-field chemistry on the opening drive. More than seven weeks after their initial connection, Brethower found Waibel for a 20-yard score in the right corner of the end zone.

“It was just one of those things I’ll always remember,” said Waibel. “We had a play designed for me and one on one with the cornerback, I beat him and Stuart found me open.”

The score led to Lincoln’s first-ever win, 34-14, and a week later, Waibel  was named The Democrat’s player of the week by online voters.

By the Numbers
Place, Name, School    Votes
1. Bryson Waibel, Lincoln    191
2. Megan Keck, Cole Camp    175
3. Caitlyn Cooner, Warsaw    121
4. Tyler Harris, Cole Camp    98
5. Zach Dover, Sacred Heart    47

The athlete of the month
is determined by the number
of votes that each of the athletes
of the week receive.