Faith, Family, Football

During a championship game against Cherry Creek High School last season, Chase Zimmerman, a standout linebacker for Valor Christian with college prospects, took a hit that challenged all his expectations. Taking the blow, going down hard, his mind flashed with the painful information that he must have blown out his knee.

In fact, he had suffered a compound tibia fibula fracture.

“I looked down, and I was kind of holding my leg, and it was like, dangling in half,” he said. “So I knew it was a pretty brutal injury.”

It was the kind of injury that could end his prospects. As his teammates, coaches and family gathered in concern – as reality set in – Zimmerman knew he faced a challenge that would test him. How could he get through this?

After surgery, the prognosis was that he faced a nine-month recovery. Would he even have a shot at a senior year? Would he ever play football again?

“So a lot of doubts were going through my mind,” he recalled, nearing the end of what’s become a surprisingly successful senior year in which he has not only been on the field, but adapted. His play has been good enough to attract some interest that could extend his career into college.

But after that prognosis?

“That was when things started to get more hard, was when I was in the unknown of ever playing again,” he said.

Zimmerman’s story is one of more than self-reliance. His faith tested, he took solace in family, friends, and counsel from Valor head coach Bret McGatlin to turn things around. It’s the kind of story that resonates often in a brutal sport. It’s the kind of story that illustrates the critical importance of seeing players as more than pieces in a game and instead builds its focus around developing the whole player – not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Zimmerman is now looking to have a successful senior season on a team that lost 33 seniors after last year. 

Coach McGatlin is a veteran when it comes to coaching high school football in Colorado. McGatlin came to Valor prior to the 2022 season after spending 16 years at Chatfield High School in Littleton, Colorado. 

In his final season at Chatfield, he led the Chargers to a 4A championship title over Erie high School 41-34. The Chargers had started out 7-3 and then won their final four games of the season on the way to a championship. “Our team kind of rallied around each other and had this miraculous run, so we found a way to win a state championship, which was a blessing.”

After coming to Valor, McGatlin wasted no time continuing the success he had enjoyed at Chatfield. He made it three straight 5A championship appearances for the Eagles in 2022, following suit of former coach Donnie Yantis, who led Valor to 5A championship games in 2020 and 2021. 

Going into his first season, McGatlin knew Valor had lost a lot from their state championship team a year prior. “I think they had 19 starters that had graduated and I think 11 of those guys went on and became division one football players.” Valor started out 2-2 but then won nine straight games before losing in the championship to Cherry Creek high school, 21-0. 

“We just kind of slowly but surely came together and it was not an easy way there, winning the semifinal by one point. But yeah, to get back to the state championship game with a whole different team was pretty cool.”

Valor got off to a rocky start in the 2023 season. After losing nearly an entire roster of seniors the Eagles began their season on a bad note. And despite being a football powerhouse, this was the most attention Valor had received in a long time. Every local media outlet was knocking on their door wondering “What’s wrong with Valor football?” But entering league play McGatlin knew his young team could rally. The coach attributed the slow start to two things, a tough schedule and youth. 

“Competition was tough to start the year first thing, second thing is one of our stars last year was a freshman that had offers all around the country and he left to go to IMG Academy and so you also lost a bunch of seniors but you lost a kid like that as well.” McGatlin continued: “So a whole new starting offensive line and I think we're just trying to figure it out.”

Despite the injuries and shuffling, McGatlin feels good about his team’s resiliency. “Every time something seems to be stacked up against us, our guys seem to respond, so we're excited about that.”

Zimmerman knows what it’s like to have something stacked up against him and have to respond, in his case it was his football career. No parent wants to see their kid taken off the field in an ambulance. But that’s what the Zimmerman’s had to witness after their son suffered his brutal injury. There’s no question it was hard, but they had their faith to lean on. Having his world turned upside down made Zimmerman look for answers, which his mom provided.

She said; “You can wallow in your misery or you can go see what God has to say about this.” Zimmerman opened his bible and told his mom the next morning that every verse he read had the words trust and faith and he was going to trust what God had planned for him. “It was really inspiring to hear a 17 year old kid say that,” she said.

His parents were not alone when it came to supporting Chase through this tough moment in his life. Zimmerman’s dad described the amazing moment that he witnessed from the football community around them, “We had calls from all over the country, the opposing team, coaches, parents, and all the Valor community.”

“I mean we had more food, everything that we needed, it was really humbling,” he said. A great moment in what had been a long journey for the Zimmerman family where they saw the brotherhood of high school football around them forget team affiliations and give their support towards something that was bigger than the game.

But adversity would strike again before Zimmerman would make his return to the Valor practice field. His wound was not healing correctly, when the bone had come out it was splintered and shattered so they could not sew it straight. Which meant Zimmerman going back for a second surgery. “That was a huge setback,” his mom said. 

When the doctors had cleaned the wound, they found an infection with bacteria in it. “And so it just kind of sent us into a spiral a little bit because he had been on antibiotics for six months.” “We didn't know if it was going to come back,” she said. They kept him on antibiotics because they feared if they took the rod out that was in his knee, the infection might spread. “That was a very hard time,” she said.

“The hardest thing in the world is the kid is in so much pain, you know, it was hard, even though he had a good attitude and he stuck with it.” “I felt so bad for him out there, if I could’ve given him my leg I would have, " Zimmerman’s dad said. 

Despite the setback with the infection, once the season started, Zimmerman was itching to get back out onto the field. He actually ended his rehab early after Valor’s slow start to the season. “Yeah he went from kind of sad to depressed and then angry after the losses and he was just so frustrated,” Zimmerman’s dad said. He was supposed to wait another week to week and a half. “But after that loss, he said, it hurts worse standing on the sideline watching my team lose than it does being out there helping so I'm playing next week, no matter what,” Zimmerman’s dad said.

Once Zimmerman was about to complete the final part of his journey back, there were some definite nerves felt by his parents. “There was just PTSD a little bit, just anytime anyone would hit him or any of that I just would kind of get that feeling in my heart like oh, gosh, please be okay,” Zimmerman’s mom said. But in this final step in Chase’s journey back, faith helped the Zimmermans through it again. “We just had to trust God that whatever plan he had was going to be perfect,”  Zimmerman’s mom said.

Asked if they noticed a difference in their son’s attitude once he returned from his rehab, Zimmerman’s mom said, “Yes, well and I think the biggest part of it wasn't, I mean, of course, he wanted to be out there and doing it. ... But I think the hardest part for him was after a huge loss that the team had, he just felt like he'd let the whole team down because he couldn't be out there helping them.”

“So that was hard to watch, but yes, he's definitely got a little pep in his step now.”

Due to injuries on the offensive line, Zimmerman played offensive guard for the first time in his high school career. “He's gonna go play some offensive line, that's kind of a cool story,” McGatlin said. “He's never played offensive line before, at least in high school, so it's kind of cool to see what he's doing."

Zimmerman was excited about the opportunity to play on the offensive line for the first time in his high school career while admitting it was a lot to learn at first. “Well, it was a lot like leading up to the first game, just like learning the entire offense.” “I haven't played offense since Little League, so just learning.”

In Zimmerman’s final regular season high school game he exclusively played guard. Now heading into the playoffs, Zimmerman hopes he can get back on the field as a linebacker and offensive lineman. “I'm fine filling that role for the playoffs because it's a fun position to fly around and hit some people really hard so I don't mind it.”

Zimmerman’s mom emphasized the help Coach McGatlin had given them while Chase was hurt; “Coach McGatlin, we're so unbelievably grateful for him.” 

“He is just for the whole entire team, he just took those boys and developed their character, and showed that it is more than a game, there's so much more to it.” 

Zimmerman's mom added that McGatlin has been there for Chase through the good, the bad, and the ugly, helping Zimmerman through his recovery and communicating to coaches for him. 

Zimmerman’s dad added what he thinks about McGatlin being the coach of their son’s team, “Coaches play huge roles, life-changing roles.” 

“So it's good to have a solid quality man of character, man of God, you know, leading your son, that's who you want around your kids.”

Zimmerman during his rehab process was going to physical therapy three times a week on top of time in the training room. “Just like being in the training room every day and just keeping on top of my therapy was a lot on my mental health because it's just really hard to be consistent with that. ... Because you feel like you're doing stuff that might be so pointless, but you know it might help in the end, so I kind of started tackling therapy like it was my sport.”

Once Zimmerman looked at his therapy like that, it made it a lot easier for him to stay on top of it. He continued talking about what the injury affected most in terms of his preparation and how his mindset changed from his junior year to his senior year.

“Well, honestly, the biggest thing that it affected was my work in the weight room before, like it's easy to skip reps to skip sets.” Now that Zimmerman is a senior he isn't taking anything for granted: “I’m not leaving anything up to chance”. 

He continued, “My work ethic has gotten a lot better through all this and my mindset is I'm going to work as hard as I can because this could have been taken away from me and I'm not going to take anything for granted, I'm going to give it my all now.”

When asked if Zimmerman was in disbelief after his injury in the championship game last year, McGatlin said; “I don't think he was in disbelief, I think he was more upset that he couldn't wrestle, but he's one of those kids that as soon as he could he was rehabbing and he was in the weight room.”

In terms of Zimmerman’s rehab, McGatlin said he’s probably more around 80% then 90%, but lauded Zimmerman’s toughness. “Just a tough, tough kid, a tough football player, it's in his blood just to be tough.”

Zimmerman said, “Coach McGatlin has been amazing through all of this, not just through injury, but when he came in.” 

“I really liked how he really hammered the faith aspect of the game and really the lessons that you learn after football that are more important than just playing the game.” 

He continued: “Just as a coach, he's just awesome, so supportive and then through injury like he was always there for me, he put me in roles that I could be more involved in.” 

“He was always looking out for me and it's easy when kids get injured just to see them sit on the side, just like neglect them but he is not like that for any of our injured guys, he's very on top of their mental health and just keeping them involved in the game, and so I really appreciate that he did that for me and all of our injured guys,” Zimmerman said.

Even with losing 33 seniors, the seniors they do have have been very helpful as leaders for the team. “I mean, quarterback Asher Wiener, Gabe Sawchuk (wide receiver) have been great, Blake Kirschke our middle backer, Chase Zimmerman, they've all done really good,” McGatlin said.

Zimmerman explained how he’s filled that leadership role this season, “Honestly just leading through example, and we have a really young team, so they kind of need to see what it's like taking these varsity reps.” 

Valor finished 6-4 this season, but they hit their stride as they entered league play. They started out 1-4 in non-league games, but then won 5 straight and finished 5-0 and in first place in the 5A South Metro division. In their final regular season game of the year, Valor beat the Mountain Vista Golden Eagles 39-34 in a game that determined the division winner.

Unfortunately, the Legend Titans eliminated McGatlin’s Eagles in the second round of the playoffs after Valor received a first round bye. It was a heartbreaking 20-13 loss, ending their season and Zimmerman’s high school career.

Despite Valor’s playoff loss, Zimmerman showed off in his final game as an Eagle. He took snaps on both sides of the ball. On offense, he recorded quite a few pancake blocks and was a force racking up tackles on the defensive side. All of this while not being 100% healthy.

Asked what his favorite memory of high school football would be, Zimmerman said: “Honestly just being with the boys, just having that brotherhood, and that camaraderie and going on the team retreats and just us all being together and just growing so close as a team.” 

After every game, Valor circles up their team and anyone else wanting to join and pray. After their upset playoff loss, this was an extraordinary moment regardless of the defeat; for many Valor players, including Zimmerman, this was their last football game as a Valor Eagle. Tears were shed, players and coaches hugged, and pictures were taken. Despite the loss, many were happy to share the field one last time. Now, Zimmerman looks towards his future.

“That's been my dream since I was a little kid is to play college football and, like this injury might have been a setback, but honestly, I'm just going to kind of trust what God's plan is for me.” 

“I have one offer to play at the University of Northern Colorado, so I was really excited to get that, but I’m just kind of keeping an open mind.” 

He continued: “See what happens and honestly if there's no football in my future then I'm fine with that, then I know that something else big is going to come from it.”