Two weeks after a gruesome-looking injury to the index finger of his throwing hand, Cleveland High School junior quarterback Chad Voytik was back on the field last Friday, throwing for 152 yards and two touchdowns on 8-for-10 passing as the Blue Raiders defeated Walker Valley 42-0.
The medical term for Voytik’s injury was a “Grade II open dorsal PIP dislocation,” which was a dislocation of the second knuckle in which the bone propelled through the skin.
“He tore all the collateral ligaments in his finger,” said his father, Gary Voytik, an orthopedic surgeon.
The younger Voytik had surgery the Friday night of the injury and returned home the next day. By then a picture text of his finger pre-surgery had circulated as far away as Louisiana.
Coach E.K. Slaughter, whose Raiders (4-3, 3-0) host Rhea County (3-4, 3-1) in a District 5-AAA game tonight, said about having seen the finger, “I thought he was done.
“He tore two ligaments in his hand, but apparently those weren’t important,” Slaughter said. “He was in the gym nailing 3-pointers a few days later.”
Said Dr. Voytik: “It was tough to see Chad go down. I’ve seen the same injury a lot of times in my career, and seen every bone, but it’s tough knowing it’s a major injury to your son.
“I always had faith he would play again, though. Historically, Chad heals very quickly. He had two or three finger fractures that he’s played through over the past couple of years.”
Chad wore a foam splint for a couple of days but shed it the Monday following surgery and started taping the finger to get it moving. Dr. Voytik bought a gel called Dermabond to coat the area.
“First we had to ensure there no was no infection,” Dr. Voytik said. “Secondly, we had to allow time for the wound to heal, and third, we had to check his range of motion and swelling reduction.”
After sitting out the team’s 21-19 loss to Cookeville seven days after the injury, Chad got his stitches out on Oct. 3. Immediately he went to the field and threw passes. The following day, he was back under center in practice.
“It was eye-opening to not be out there with my brothers, but the time gave me a boost and a new way to look at football,” Chad said. “It made me realize that football is a game – a game that I like – and that you’re supposed to have fun.”
Slaughter admitted to being hesitant about letting Chad play.
“I didn’t really believe he was healed,” Slaughter said. “I thought he was going to be tentative, plus I didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize his future.”
He was more fearful than the Voytiks at that point.
“Chad took a snap under center in practice, and when he was going back to hand it off, he was tripped by the guard and fell down,” Slaughter said, laughing at the memory. “I was scared to death because I remembered what that finger looked like.”
Chad admitted that hearing doubters write him off for the season made him eager to return.
“In the back of my head, I was thinking, ‘I’ll show you. I’ll come back stronger than before,'” he said. “It gave me personal satisfaction to come back when I was ready and healed enough.”
His return to action was faster than even his father imagined.
“He wanted to play against Cookeville,” Dr. Voytik said. “He had started to feel good, but with it being a nonregion game, we decided to sit him out and let the wound heal. I kind of thought [tonight’s] Rhea County game would be his return, but after a while, I knew we weren’t going to be able to keep him out of the Walker Valley game.”
Said Slaughter: “When I first talked to his dad, he told me that he might be able to come back for the Soddy-Daisy game,” referring to the Raiders’ final regular-season game.
College recruiters have to like seeing Voytik’s quick comeback. He felt he learned something about himself as well.
“I hope my return showed the team that I was willing to fight through this and come back from this injury,” he said. “Also, it showed me that I can overcome something like that in the future.”