Cary-Grove’s Connor Anderson had long road back to Class 6A title game

CARY – Cary-Grove linebacker Connor Anderson could not have been dragged off of Lake Zurich’s Mel Eide Field last Saturday, not after what he endured over the previous 14 months.

Anderson sustained a shot to his right leg early in the Class 6A playoffs semifinal at Lake Zurich, but fortunately it was only a bad bruise. So after each Bears’ offensive play, Anderson limped back to C-G’s huddle and kept going.

Anderson recalled the 2021 season when he started in one of the classic games in IHSA history, a 37-36 Trojans’ victory over mighty East St. Louis for the Class 6A state championship.

He also thought back to the disappointment of last season, when C-G’s 17-year consecutive playoff streak was stopped. He and several other key players suffered season-ending injuries, with his broken left fibula setting him back almost until June.

There was no way Anderson was leaving that game.

“I felt like it was part of my responsibility to get us back to where we were,” Anderson said, speaking of the offseason. “Even when I played (last season), it wasn’t how we normally played. I didn’t take the leadership that I needed to take for us to be successful.

“In the offseason I really tried to step up with a leadership perspective and do what I can because, I’m sitting there with my crutches, only able to do upper body. It’s awesome to be back.”

Anderson and the Trojans (11-2) will face East St. Louis (11-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday for the Class 6A state championship at Illinois State University’s Hancock Stadium in Normal. Anderson is the lone returning starter from that C-G team and definitively one of the Trojans’ leaders.

“You talk about kids who are what’s best about high school athletics, it’s Connor Anderson,” Trojans coach Brad Seaburg said. “He puts the team first, he never missed a workout in the offseason, even with a broken leg, was always leading, always believing, doing whatever he could do to help the team.

“It would have been really easy for him to feel sorry for himself and be down, he kept chipping away. He’s definitely our leader on defense.”

Anderson tops the Trojans with 127 tackles as they will face their toughest offensive opponent of the season in the Flyers, who have won two of the last three Class 6A state championships.

It was a tougher road back than expected for Anderson (6-foot-2, 194 pounds) after he suffered the injury against Prairie Ridge on Sept. 24, 2022. Two orthopedic surgeons did not think he would need surgery, but four months later the bone had not healed properly, so surgery was performed to reset the bone.

For a junior looking forward to his senior season, it was frustrating for Anderson, who could not start running until June.

“I was definitely worried,” Anderson said. “Going into the surgery, it was a major letdown. It felt like four months of wasted time. I was doing stuff, lifting upper body, but it was four months wasted for the leg. After that, it took a while to get back to 100% after the surgery. It was the weakness that worried me.”

David Anderson, Connor’s father, also was concerned for his son.

“With the recovery process, there was some concern,” David Anderson said. “He fought through it. He’s one tough kid. That’s what the (C-G) coaches breed. He loves to play football.

“We’re very proud of the effort he put in to come back. The Cary-Grove program is everything to him. Thirteen years he’s played and the lessons he learned are life-changing. The injury was devastating to him.”

Connor Anderson may have been overly critical of his leadership during the 2022 season, but he definitely earned even more appreciation from his teammates in the offseason.

“Every day he was there, just being with the team,” running back Andrew Prio said. “It shows us he’s dedicated and wants to be a leader with us.

“The injury last year was a terrible thing to see. He’s been working so hard, it’s great to see him back out there and being a leader on defense with another chance to play at state.”

Defensive back Jack Rocen is one of Anderson’s closest friends and often went to his house to play Xbox and help keep his spirits up.

“I was never worried (about him making it back),” Rocen said. “I saw him work his way back, working as hard as he could, still lifting when he had his leg kicked up for bench. He was working hard.”

Seaburg thought Anderson took last year’s season harder than most any of the other Trojans.

“He may have looked at is as a guy who was returning and it was his responsibility to uphold the tradition,” Seaburg said. “When we didn’t, Connor, among some other guys, really took it hard.

“(This season) is a great sense of accomplishment, but we’re not done. I think that’s Connor’s mentality and the mentality of a lot of our kids. A lot of it is because the way Connor’s approached the offseason.”

Anderson started running again in June and felt better in August.

“Going into Week 1, I was struggling,” Anderson said. “The first couple weeks it was sore from the running, it wasn’t fully conditioned. Around Week 4 or 5 it was better. I have confidence I can play on it fully.”

And now, C-G will meet East St. Louis again and Anderson will again play an integral role.

“He just doesn’t quit, he keeps going and going and wants to be the best teammate he can,” David Anderson said.