Cesar Diaz kicked the game-winning field goal for North Jackson High School in last week's game.STEVENSON, Ala. - The bandage, wrapped tightly around his left knee, is the only reminder that Cesar Diaz probably should not be on the field.
But with each game, North Jackson High School's junior kicker adds to the list of reasons his teammates are grateful he continues to play.
Despite a torn ACL in his plant leg, Diaz remains a steady weapon for North Jackson, which moved up to No. 3 in Alabama's Class 4A rankings this week after a narrow win over seventh-ranked Guntersville. Diaz's 19-yard chip shot late in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference in that 23-21 win last week.
"He hasn't missed a beat despite the injury," Chiefs coach Shawn Peek said. "When he told us he had hurt his knee, we started having tryouts this summer to find a replacement. But that wasn't pretty.
"Then he said he had decided to put off having surgery until after the season, and once we saw him at practice, we could tell he was still going to be solid for us. We never hesitate to send him out there."
While playing backyard soccer with friends last spring, Diaz heard his knee pop and felt a sharp pain move down the back of his leg. Ignoring the injury, about a month later while again playing in a pickup soccer match, he planted his left foot to make a cut and felt the knee completely give out. An MRI confirmed Diaz had torn the ACL and suffered slight damage to his meniscus, and doctors advised him that immediate surgery was needed.
But realizing that would mean missing the entire football season, Diaz opted to delay the surgery until December.
"I thought about it a lot, and talked about it with my parents, and just decided that I probably couldn't hurt it any worse," he said. "So I just tape it up before every practice and game and keep kicking.
"I knew my team needed me, and I wanted to be out there with them."
Diaz has made 19 of 21 extra-point attempts and is 4-of-4 on field goals this season. For his career, he has connected on 14 of 15 field-goal tries, with a long of 38 yards, and made 144 of 151 extra-point attempts. According to Chiefs coaches, he routinely makes 50-plus-yard attempts during practice and has made a 61-yard attempt several times.
"It's like with any of those good kickers, it just sounds different when the ball comes off his foot," Peek said. "He gives us a scoring option we wouldn't have otherwise.
"He's a very competitive kid, and the thing that separates him from other kickers with a strong leg is his accuracy. You see college guys missing 30-yarders every Saturday, but his almost always split the uprights."
Diaz's leg isn't just an offensive weapon for a team that is outscoring opponents by an average of 39-9. Most of his kickoffs go for touchbacks, including one last week that cleared the crossbar in the back of the end zone.
"It's huge when you make the other team start from its 20 and drive it 80 yards," Peek said. "He helps us in a lot of different ways."
In middle school, Diaz knew very little about American football. But like most preteens looking for a way to make friends, he quickly realized that the fastest way to become popular was to learn about and play the game that dominated local discussions in a town that has only a 1.5-percent Hispanic population and a school that does not offer soccer.
"I went to a game and liked the way they were hitting each other, so I decided to start playing," Diaz said. "But once the coaches found out I could kick, they told me to work on that. It's funny to think that what started as a hobby could become something that I have a future doing."