Lee Scheide says: Here's hoping Rangel's road is paved with gold

The news came like a punch in the gut.

A Permian football player, during a routine drill in practice, was injured to the extent that he still has yet to regain feeling from his waist down.

A teenage boy laying in a sterile hospital room with a constant flurry of activity around him as family, friends, teammates and coaches all search for the tiniest movement, the sliver of hope that says Julio Rangel may be able to walk again.

Selfishly, I immediately thought of my wife, my sons, my dad, my brothers and sisters, in fact, everyone that I know and hold dear and how I would react if I got a phone call saying any one of them were seriously injured and life as they knew it was over.

It’s a natural thought for any parent who watches someone, especially a child, leave in the morning and waits for them to return home safe each night.

Then, like the players and staff on the Permian practice field that day, I prayed.

Also, like everyone, I hope Rangel has the chance to walk across the Ratliff Stadium turf for graduation with his classmates in the spring of 2010, that this situation is temporary and he’ll begin regaining sensation in his lower body.

Kevin Everett of the Buffalo Bills comes to mind, his prospects of walking seemingly extinguished after suffering a spinal cord injury in a game against the Denver Broncos in 2007. Everett was given little chance to walk again, yet with breakthroughs in spinal cord care and surgery, along with a strong will, Everett not only defied the odds, but walked back on the field at Ralph Wilson Stadium for the final home game of the 2007 season.

Staying positive played a huge part in Everett’s recovery; he knew that he was going to walk again and said it numerous times during his rehabilitation process.

I hope that thread is weaving its way not only into Rangel’s mind, but into the minds of those around him, the ones who will be required to provide the foundation for him to begin his battle back, while at the same time learning that Rangel’s options are limited only by the scope of his dreams, desires and imagination.

In other words, limitless.

A sobering look around the 2-5A matchups this week:

>> ODESSA HIGH 45, LUBBOCK HIGH 17: Both teams coming off losses, but the Bronchos have too much firepower for the visiting Westerners.

>> PERMIAN 55, SAN ANGELO CENTRAL 10: An emotional Panthers team faces a Bobcats team still looking to find a leader.

>> MIDLAND HIGH 35, MIDLAND LEE 32: This one goes to the final minutes before the Bulldogs win the crosstown rivalry.

>> AMARILLO TASCOSA 35, LUBBOCK MONTEREY 24: Too much Dalton Brooks to Toby Dennis for the Plainsmen to counter on this night.

>> AMARILLO HIGH 40, LUBBOCK CORONADO 27: The Sandies use a ball-control offense to keep the high-powered Mustangs in the corral.