A second torn ACL offers Blazers’ Nylah Cody a new vantage point for soccer

By Jason Guarente — MikeDragoSports.com Senior Correspondent

As Daniel Boone’s players went through their warmup routine, Nylah Cody stood in the middle with a clipboard resting on her hip.

It was an odd sight. A puzzle with a piece missing. The Blazers were preparing for an important game and one of their best attackers wasn’t in uniform.

Cody lost her senior season to a second torn ACL. Choosing not to play was as difficult as it was understandable.

“I’m devastated,” Cody said. “It was a very hard choice. It took many months to come to that decision.”

This is about the time Cody could have returned. She injured her left knee during a club tournament with FC Providence in November. If she really wanted to push it, she could have squeezed a few games into this fall.

The complicating factor was Cody had torn her right ACL in seventh grade. She went through the arduous rehab once before. Rehabbing again and then putting herself at further risk was scary. 

“As I get older things become more sensible,” Cody said. “I know I’m still young. I know I could still recover if I ever had another injury. The recovery and everything is just not fun. It’s something I don’t want to go through again.”

Cody chose to sit out this season and not to pursue a college scholarship. She signed up to be a team manager in June.

Boone coach Mark Reightneour is happy his forward is still around every day. He still thinks about what this high-scoring team could achieve with Cody up top.

“All the time,” Reightneour said. “Can you imagine?”

Boone sophomores Maggie Holloway and Anna Buckwalter are one of the best scoring tandems in the league. The Blazers have talented midfielders in Gabby Fontana and Lily Ferguson. They are 7-4, fighting with Fleetwood for the Berks II title and ranked 11th in District 3 Class 3A.

Cody, who scored nine goals in 17 games last season, could make them even more dangerous.

“She’s got speed, she’s got intelligence, she knows the game well,” Reightneour said. “She passes the ball well. She does everything. The speed. You can’t teach that. Her ability to get around people and finish. We miss her. We really do.”

Cody distributes the ball during pregame drills. She sits on the bench and chats with the other players during games. She keeps the scorebook. Those are her manager and teammate responsibilities.

The senior also watches. That isn’t easy.

“For the most part, I don’t mind,” Cody said. “I like cheering on my teammates. Sometimes it is a little hard to watch knowing that if this injury didn’t happen I could be on the field right now helping my team out. Getting us to victory.”

Cody hopes to find her way back onto the field in a less competitive setting one day. Maybe with a club or intramural team in college.

The sport is part of her at this point. She has played since she was about 4. That makes losing her senior season feel unfair.

“Life without soccer, I don’t even know what it would be like,” Cody said. “Soccer has been my entire life all year round. Having it taken away hurts. It hurts a lot. That’s why I try to keep it in my life as much as I can.”

Even if it means sitting on the bench holding a book instead of racing down the field scoring a goal.