DANVILLE — The game was virtually over. With the Chrisman Cardinals leading the Schlarman Hilltoppers by nearly 20 points, all they had to do was maintain their advantage and run out the clock in order to advance to the regional semifinal game.

Many of the Hilltoppers were sad that their basketball season was coming to an end, and some, like Heath Goodwin, knew that baseball practice would soon begin.

But for Goodwin, that didn’t happen. With the mindset of playing hard until the final buzzer, the then junior scrambled for a loose ball on the Hilltoppers’ offensive end of the court.

Unfortunately, he didn’t gain possession of the ball, and he soon realized that not only was basketball season over, so were his prospects of playing baseball.

“I knew something was wrong,” Goodwin said. “I felt something pop, and then I just fell down. Extreme pain just shot through my knee, so I knew something had to be wrong.”

He was helped off the court, and ultimately left Chrisman High School in a wheelchair. Once the swelling went down, x-rays revealed that the injury was much more serious than he had hoped. Not only was he disappointed in the news that he had injured his ACL, he counted down the projected recovery time and realized there was a chance he could miss his senior football season.

Schlarman head football coach Mike High started making plans for the upcoming season under the assumption he wouldn’t have his starting quarterback.

“I think I was in the weight room one day after school,” High said of when he heard the news. “It was back in February. Somebody said, ‘Well, did you hear about Heath?’ Of course at that time, we were hoping for the best and it turned out to be the worst.

“He came by the house to tell me about it. Knowing the kind of person that he is and the family he comes from, I knew he was going to do all of the work. But I said, ‘I just want to warn you, it will be beyond your wildest imagination how hard it’s going to be. Most guys, it’s six to eight months. For you to get back in five is going to be pushing it pretty good.’ “

Even though he knew the projected recovery time, Goodwin found himself doing “intense strength-building and running and cutting and agility work” after three months.

He remained dedicated to recovering in time for last week’s season opener against Martinsville. But even when he was released to play the Tuesday prior to the game, High wasn’t sure what to expect.

With a couple of practices under his belt, Goodwin felt good enough to play, and by the Hilltoppers’ second series of the game, the senior quarterback had entered the game.

What was intended to be game plan of a handful of pass plays and a couple of handoffs resulted in Goodwin rushing for 86 yards and passing for 155. He completed a 30-yard pass for a first-quarter touchdown, and ran for two others.

“I was kind of surprised but not as much,” Goodwin said of his performance. “I knew I was ready to go. (Coach High) told me that he wasn’t expecting me to do as much as I did.

“I wasn’t expecting to run too much, but it just so happened that I did have to run. I was expecting more to just pass the ball. Maybe run a little bit but not as much as I did.”

The Hilltoppers won the game 34-6, marking only their third win since the 2005 season. Not only were they relieved to get the win out of the way in the first contest, High was glad to have his senior leader back on the field.

“I was really surprised about how well he recovered,” High said. “Other than the knee brace, I couldn’t really tell a difference. The original intent was not to play him a whole lot. And if he did play, just have him hand the ball off and throw some passes. I really didn’t want him to run too much, just kind of ease his way back in it. Well, we just put him out there and called his number. I got a little nervous about it, but he just ran like he had no injuries at all. The game was going pretty well, and we felt like the competition was such that we could let him mix it up a little bit. We just kind of turned him loose. That wasn’t really the plan, but that’s kind of how it unfolded.”

The Hilltoppers will try for their second win on Friday when they host Arcola at 7 p.m. Though they know Arcola will present a tough challenge, having Goodwin back on the field will give them the added leadership and experience they will need.

“He has started since he was a freshman, so this will be his fourth year starting at quarterback,” High said. “That’s pretty rare. Just having a kid with that experience and that kind of talent is pretty important. And, it’s the leadership factor. There’s nothing like having a guy that’s been back there forever.”