Speidel back where he belongs

A difficult 2008 season got worse for Chapin Speidel when St. Anne’s-Belfield lost to Atlantic Shores Christian in the VIS Division II championship game in November. The safety, then a junior, could only watch from the sidelines while rehabbing a torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus as the Saints fell short of a third consecutive state title.

One year later, Speidel is back on the field with a renewed commitment to the game. He’ll take the football field for the first time since that loss today when the Saints visit Fork Union for their season opener.

Speidel suffered the injury while playing travel lacrosse in Maryland. He had injured the knee slightly during his sophomore lacrosse season and, in his words, “just kind of finished it off” that day in June 2008.

“I spun and my knee just kind of stayed planted while my body torqued, so it just snapped it back,” he said. “I knew right away when it happened that I had hurt my knee real bad.”

The injury ended Speidel’s football season before it began, leaving St. Anne’s to scramble to replace him one year after he emerged as a defensive playmaker — and, according to coach John Blake, the team’s “heart and soul”.

“We played a lot of man [coverage] with him when he was a sophomore,” Blake said. “He did some great things. Later on in the year, he became our free safety and really covered the field back there. The championship run we had in 2007, he made a lot of great plays, a lot of interceptions and things like that near the end.”

After surgery and physical therapy, Speidel returned to the lacrosse field, where he scored a goal in the Saints’ overtime victory over Norfolk Academy in the VIS Division I final. With his confidence back, he’s ready to lead the Saints’ defense this season — although his coach says he never really left.

“He stayed around the football program the whole time,” Blake said. “It was killing him — I could tell. It was around February that he was back and running, and he went right back out.”

The injury and rehab led Speidel to change some of his practice and workout habits, which he admits weren’t the best.

“I didn’t really keep up my leg strength, which I’ve learned to do now,” he said. “…I have some physical therapy exercises I picked up. I try to keep doing those in my spare time. Whenever I lift, I always do my physical therapy exercises to help maintain strength.”

Now that he’s back in top form, Speidel should be the focal point of the St. Anne’s defense. Blake plans on putting him in a rover role to get him involved in as many plays as possible.

While Speidel admits lacrosse is his sport of choice — he hopes to continue at the Division III level and is looking at Denison, Hampden-Sydney, Roanoke, Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg —  his experience in the spring has helped shape him as a football player.

“He’s got great instincts,” Blake said. “He knows angles very well. He’s not scared to hit — he comes up and lets you know it. He’s a big kid and can run.”

Speidel and the Saints face a tough schedule, beginning with today’s Fork Union matchup, as they try to get back to their previous state-championship level. While many of the leaders of the 2008 state finalists are gone, Speidel is confident his teammates will be in the thick of things come playoff time.

“Over the course of the season, we’ll get there,” he said. “By the end of the year, that’s what we’re looking for — get to the playoffs and see what happens after that. “