McHaney grateful for second chance

Caden McHaney's getting a second chance at his senior football season.

McHaney -- a 5-foot-10, 196-pound senior for Siloam Springs -- suffered an ACL tear in his left knee at Rogers in Week Zero on Aug. 27 and was initially thought to be lost for the season.

But in the aftermath of the injury, discussions with his family and doctor turned to McHaney possibly returning to the field in a limited capacity with a brace on his knee.

"When the opportunity to play again was on the board, I just couldn't pass it up," said McHaney, who returned to the field against Van Buren in Week 4 and has played in a limited role in every game since then.

He'll be on the field Friday at Mountain Home (2-5, 1-3 6A-West) as the Panthers (1-6, 0-4) try to stay alive for a playoff berth.

"We need to get this win, because this will help lead us into Parkview and then to Russellville and possibly give us a shot at one more week," McHaney said.

Prior to the injury, McHaney was a returning starter at linebacker and a key piece in the Panthers' defense.

Now his role is mostly on offense as a tight end/H-back, primarily in a blocking role, along with some snaps on defense at defensive end.

No matter where he's at on the field, McHaney said he's thankful for another opportunity.

"Just the opportunity that coach gave me, he could have been like, 'Hey, you can try back out for linebacker, and you can work for your position,'" McHaney said. "But he was willing to make a position for me. To be honest I'm just grateful to be able to play again."

Siloam Springs coach Brandon Craig said the coaches are glad to see McHaney back out there as well, but they couldn't help but feel for him when the injury first occurred.

"Anytime you have a senior that's put in the time and effort like Caden has, and you see him get injured like that, you feel for him," Craig said. "It really makes your stomach turn because you want him to have a good senior year and good experience. For him luckily, he's able to brace it up and keep going, but he was a really good player for us. We've changed his role a little bit. He's playing some offense now. Playing a little bit on defense, but he's been our defensive leader the last couple of years. It really hurts us not having him out there. We love the fact that he's getting to play at all, but we miss him a lot on defense."

The actual injury itself occurred in the second half against Rogers High, where he was blindsided on a play that earned a 15-yard penalty.

"It really stinks the way it happened," Craig said. "That should have never happened and that's what caused the injury. You hate to see plays like that happen to kids in the first place. Him being the kind of kid he is, being the kind of leader for us, you hate to see it happen. Again, this is part of the growth of becoming a young man and dealing with things in your life. This adversity he's faced, he's handled it great."

McHaney had 90 total tackles as a junior in 2020, which ranked second on the team, and eight tackles for loss.

He's been a player that the coaches have had their eye on since he moved in as a ninth-grader in 2018.

"He's a special kid," Craig said. "He came to us from Virginia and moved in his ninth-grade year. He didn't know anything about Siloam, and we didn't know anything about him. It was my first year so we were both new, and we kind of connected through that. He's just been a special kid the whole time. He's worked tremendously hard and done everything we've asked.

"For him to keep playing it is special, but I know down deep inside he's that kind of kid. He doesn't want to quit anything. He wants to finish everything."

Playing with a torn ACL does have it's challenges, McHaney said.

"It's definitely not as easy as it sounds," he said.

McHaney estimates that he's played between 65 to 70 snaps in four games since returning to the field.

"So ever since I've been back, there's been times where I've tweaked it a little bit," he said. "And of course it hurts because there's no ACL, but besides that, Coach has put me in a position to help out the team, and whatever it takes, I want to do it."

Craig said the Panthers are treating this Week 8 game against Mountain Home as a "playoff" game.

"It's a must win for us," he said. "We've got to go over there and win the football game to keep our hopes alive. Our kids know that. I mean they're not stupid and they read the papers. They see the standings. For us as coaches, we've got to do a great job of giving them the best chance to go win a football game. We're going to do everything we can for them."