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Associated Press
Published Sep 6, 2002 AMPU07
WACO, Texas -- A day after surgeons amputated his leg because of a football-related injury, 16-year-old William Barton said he wished he had made the tackle in the play that led to his injury.
``I love football,'' William said in an interview from his hospital bed Thursday. ``I love to play it, and I love to watch it.''
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``Football is a contact sport, and this is just one of those things,'' William said in the interview with The Dallas Morning News. ``I'm not going to let it get me down. You have to take what life gives you and look to the future.''
William, a 170-pound running back and linebacker at Groesbeck High School, was off to a good start in his short football career when he was injured Aug. 30.
A junior, he was playing in his first varsity game and scored a touchdown on a 17-yard catch in a 30-13 victory over Lorena. Moments later, on defense, he was closing in for a tackle when he was blindsided by a block.
``I knew something was wrong,'' William said. ``But I thought it might be a ligament or something.''
With a frown, he said his only regret was not making the tackle.
He said he remembered shifting all his weight to his left leg and preparing to lunge at a running back when the hit came. The blocker's shoulder pads hit his knee squarely, bending the leg into a crescent shape.
``It was a clean hit. It's just one of those unfortunate things,'' Groesbeck coach Richey Cutrer said.
William was taken to a nearby hospital, where the knee was drained and X-rays were taken. An MRI was scheduled, and he was released.
But the leg became discolored and more painful, and during a follow-up visit Monday doctors found clotting and infection, and William was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Waco 40 miles away.
Doctors found a 2-inch arterial tear and performed the surgery Wednesday, amputating below the knee.
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