BV’s Hix helps shoulder the load for the Storm
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| Bureau Valley senior Ryan Hix goes up for a shot Saturday at home against Hall. Hix had 14 points in the Storm victory, and is hoping to help lead his team to a strong finish to their season. (BCR photo/Chris Yucus) |
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MANLIUS — Bureau Valley senior Ryan Hix has had his share of bumps and bruises as a three-sport athlete for the Storm, but nothing quite like this fall when he dislocated his shoulder in Week 7 of the football season. That’s when he had to make a choice.
“I had two options,” Hix said. “Either sit out the rest of the season and go get surgery, or I could go play with my team for what would be the last time.”
Three weeks later, Hix was back on the field for the Storm, taking to the gridiron for what eventually did prove to be their last game of the season.
“I decided to just go ahead and play,” Hix said. “It was sore, but I just fought through it. I was fine.”
Hix said the bond he and his teammates on the Storm shared made his decision to play a painful ... but an easy choice.
“Any one of our senior captains would have done the same thing; any of our starters would have done the same thing to play,” Hix said.
Now suiting up for the Storm basketball team, Hix said his shoulder is still giving him problems, but that has not stopped him from taking the court.
“This basketball season its separated a couple of times. I’ve just been playing with it like this, so I’ve had to wear a brace” Hix said. “At Kewanee I went to take a charge, and it popped out,” he continued but also ready with the silver lining. “But it popped right back in, so that was nice.”
While the shoulder injury couldn’t keep Hix off the hardwood, a bout with recurring mono did, as the senior center missed some time over the winter break battling the illness.
He said not being able to take the floor with his teammates was hard for him.
“It wasn’t fun to sit and watch because I always want to be out there to make a difference on the court. I was just very anxious to get back when I was sitting out,” Hix said.
Now he has, once again, returned to the floor to provide a spark for the Storm, especially atop BV’s trapping 1-3-1 defense.
“On defense we run that 13-trap, and basically I’m out there to get tips along with (fellow seniors) Alex (Franklin) and Austin (Peterson), basically to create havoc on the court,” Hix said.
When the Storm defense is firing on all cylinders, it leads to quick bursts of offense, like last Saturday when Hix and the Storm scored 24 first-quarter points in a win against county rival Hall.
While it’s been an up and down year for the Storm, who at press time held an 11-10 record, Hix hopes to help his team realize its potential as the regular season draws to a close.
“We have a lot of potential. It’s kind of a dangerous word to use because we haven’t really lived up to our potential, in my opinion,” Hix said. “We can be a lot better than what we have shown, what’s on paper. We just need to somehow find what’s missing, find the missing key.
“That killer instinct, we need to find that. I think once we find that we’ll be a very good team,” Hix said.
A regional title is the goal for his final hoops campaign with BV, although Hix knows it won’t be easy.
“We’re going to have to play really good,” Hix said. “We’ve got a tough regional with Riverdale, Princeton and Mendota ... If we’re playing our best ball, we’ve got a chance to win a regional title.”
Hix is also looking forward to the baseball season this spring, where he and the Storm will return to defend their first-ever regional championship from a year ago.
“It raises the bar a little bit knowing that last year we were regional champions, and we beat a pretty good Princeton team,” Hix said. “It gives a little confidence to be better than last year’s team.
“It should be fun. We’re not returning too many starters, but we’ve got a good group of juniors that are coming up, so we should have a pretty successful year,” Hix said. “Our main goal is to win a regional, and then go on from there. You’ve got to start off there and build.”
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