Beatrice's Higgins 'never slows down and never lets up'
You can look up the word “pain,” in the dictionary and find a couple of definitions: (1) punishment, (2) hurting, (3) distress, (4) great effort.
You won’t find “Jimmy Higgins, Beatrice tight end/defensive end.” But you can understand why he would qualify under the heading of “pain.”
“He tore his knee up last summer,” Beatrice football coach Bob Sexton said. “He couldn’t get it fixed. He couldn’t run. He couldn’t lift weights.
“He will finish out the football season.”
Higgins’ finale, Saturday at Memorial Stadium when Beatrice faces Aurora for the Class B state championship, is the perfect way to end a high school athletic career, he said.
“I said good-bye to basketball last summer when I tore the patellar tendon in my right knee playing too much basketball, ignoring the pain, lifting too much, and putting off seeing a doctor,” Higgins said.
Sure enough, when doctors checked, simply, the tendon that straps the knee cap to the leg bone and to the thigh bone was partially torn.
“They’ve seen about one of these in the last 10 years,” Higgins said. “It takes about six months to recover from surgery. So I gave up basketball. Was told football would be OK, for this year. And I’m playing.”
Higgins is one of the leading tacklers on the team. His catch and run for a 70-yard touchdown in the Class B semifinal victory over Lincoln Pius X was pivotal in helping the Orangemen reach the title game for the first time in school history.
“I don’t know how he does it, but he’s one of those guys who never slows down and never lets up,” said Sexton. “We don’t do a lot of conditioning during the week with him, but we can count on him for everything he’s got on game day.”
Higgins knows how to bring out his best in many ways. “For football, it takes a lot of ice,” he said. “For school, I’m just as motivated.”
Higgins is No. 1 in his class and carries a perfect grade-point average. His older brother, Mike, was also No. 1 in his class and is a starting tight end for UNO these days. “He’s the better athlete, but I’ve got a higher test score,” Jimmy Higgins said with a laugh. His 33 on the ACT is hard to top. The test score and his grades have helped him earn a Regents Scholarship, an engineering scholarship and honors scholarship, so most of his college at Nebraska starting next fall will be paid for.
“There has been some pain to play, but I’m on the same team with Justin Coleman, Garrett Bruhn, and a bunch of really talented players,” Higgins said. “And we’re in the championship game. Can’t ask for much more than one more win.
“We learned about being overconfident when we lost to Waverly in the middle of the season, and we’ve worked harder ever since.”
Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.
You won’t find “Jimmy Higgins, Beatrice tight end/defensive end.” But you can understand why he would qualify under the heading of “pain.”
“He tore his knee up last summer,” Beatrice football coach Bob Sexton said. “He couldn’t get it fixed. He couldn’t run. He couldn’t lift weights.
“He will finish out the football season.”
Higgins’ finale, Saturday at Memorial Stadium when Beatrice faces Aurora for the Class B state championship, is the perfect way to end a high school athletic career, he said.
“I said good-bye to basketball last summer when I tore the patellar tendon in my right knee playing too much basketball, ignoring the pain, lifting too much, and putting off seeing a doctor,” Higgins said.
Sure enough, when doctors checked, simply, the tendon that straps the knee cap to the leg bone and to the thigh bone was partially torn.
“They’ve seen about one of these in the last 10 years,” Higgins said. “It takes about six months to recover from surgery. So I gave up basketball. Was told football would be OK, for this year. And I’m playing.”
Higgins is one of the leading tacklers on the team. His catch and run for a 70-yard touchdown in the Class B semifinal victory over Lincoln Pius X was pivotal in helping the Orangemen reach the title game for the first time in school history.
“I don’t know how he does it, but he’s one of those guys who never slows down and never lets up,” said Sexton. “We don’t do a lot of conditioning during the week with him, but we can count on him for everything he’s got on game day.”
Higgins knows how to bring out his best in many ways. “For football, it takes a lot of ice,” he said. “For school, I’m just as motivated.”
Higgins is No. 1 in his class and carries a perfect grade-point average. His older brother, Mike, was also No. 1 in his class and is a starting tight end for UNO these days. “He’s the better athlete, but I’ve got a higher test score,” Jimmy Higgins said with a laugh. His 33 on the ACT is hard to top. The test score and his grades have helped him earn a Regents Scholarship, an engineering scholarship and honors scholarship, so most of his college at Nebraska starting next fall will be paid for.
“There has been some pain to play, but I’m on the same team with Justin Coleman, Garrett Bruhn, and a bunch of really talented players,” Higgins said. “And we’re in the championship game. Can’t ask for much more than one more win.
“We learned about being overconfident when we lost to Waverly in the middle of the season, and we’ve worked harder ever since.”
Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.
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