By Ryan Tipps
D3sports.com

"I knew something was wrong."

That thought pulsed through the King's defender after the tackle. The game was only a scrimmage, and before the season started, it seemed to have already slipped away.

What was beginning was a difficult phase of self-evaluation, where Tore Alaimo would be forced to weigh football, school and community. And what would emerge over the next year were periods of doubt and determination, but most all, there emerged an athlete of character and charisma.

In 2003, Salvatore "Tore" Alaimo came to King's as a second-year freshman from Division II Millersville. The starting role at inside linebacker was immediately a perfect fit. 

"You get an opportunity in this profession to be around a lot of great kids," said coach Rich Mannello, "but Tore's still different. Every day of his life is committed to doing things the right way -- on the field or off the field. His preparation for football is every day of the year -- what he eats, what he doesn't eat, how he exercises, how he trains in the weight room. You have kids who at times do everything the right way, but they have peaks and valleys. This kid is steady. He's been that way since the day we got him here."

But even in those early years, Alaimo couldn't shake off injury.

He missed his true freshman year at Millersville because of injury, and the same thing kept him from three games his first season at King's. In his sophomore year, hitting full stride, he earned a first-team all-conference spot in the Middle Atlantic Conference. His 82 tackles that season was then far outdone in his junior year, when he posted 112 tackles, the second-most in King's history, and was honored by the MAC and D3football.com. That was 2005.

Things changed in 2006.

Tore Alaimo leads King's in tackles once again. after returning from a brutal injury.

The scrimmage that year was at home against Susquehanna. During one play, the running back broke free down the right sideline, and Alaimo zeroed in. Forty yards later, Alaimo reached for the ball-carrier's legs and yanked him to the ground. But Alaimo's arm became pinned awkwardly during the fall. His elbow hit the turf, and the force rippled through his shoulder.

Doctors told him it's the kind of injury more common in auto accidents.

"At the time, I knew it was serious," Alaimo said. "But I kind of put it off." For a Division III student-athlete, the injury wasn't just serious for Tore the Player, it was also serious for Tore the Student.

Alaimo was already in his fifth year of college. Graduation for the Pittston Township, Pa., native was only six credits away -- a degree in criminal justice was there on the horizon.

Ultimately, after consulting the NCAA, Alaimo opted to take a medical redshirt for 2006. But that also meant withdrawing from school, because with only a few credits left, fulfilling the requirements would have locked him out of another season on the field.

"I didn't know how to handle it," he said. "I wanted to be a part (of the team). I was only taking one class, and I had to withdraw from the school."

It's a hard place to step away from, even temporarily.

"The great thing about this school," Alaimo said, "is that the day after it happened, after I had found out I was out (for the season), the president of the school called me up. ... He's a priest, and he wanted to let me know that he was praying for me."

And it wasn't long before support could be found elsewhere as well.

"This is a tight-knit community here," Mannello said. "We always talk about in recruiting that you're coming to the King's football family. Well, that all sounds really good when you're recruiting, but it gets puts to test when one of your kids is under crisis. It just seemed that with every step with him ... the coaches were there, as well as his family, and the players were there. It wasn't rehearsed. It was a natural thing. ... 

"If you have to talk about it as a coaching staff, you probably don't have it. But if it happens naturally, then you know your priorities are in order."

With all the heavy decisions that hovered over Alaimo, his injury was the immediate and important concern. First there were X-rays, then MRI scans, then the threat of surgery. 

"The surgery that I was supposed to get, the one that they were talking about," Alaimo said, "involved putting two screws in there. And I thought, I wanna throw a ball to my kid in maybe 10 years. This is going to be so bad. ...

"But when I found out that I wasn't going to have to get surgery, it was cool. I was going to have to sit out 16 weeks to let the bone heal. And I kept having to go back to get X-rays to see if the bone moved."

Sixteen weeks was longer than a season, a lifetime to someone in Alaimo's shoes. For a coach, that can feel like a lifetime, too. But Mannello and the team pressed on.

"In coaching you get immune to the injury thing," Mannello said. "You have to, because the next guy in has to feel that you feel as good about him. So I never talk about injuries. But that one (Alaimo's) hurt because of how he prepares. To have a kid prepare as smart as he does and to have a freak injury like that, that's the part that got me. As a coach, you have to move on, you have to get another guy in there."

Alaimo struggled with being off the field. His name was removed from rosters. There was no mention about him in football literature throughout the rest of the season. And for someone as ingrained in the game as he is, the sidelines hold little thrill.

"Being in street clothes just watching compared with being there in football pads and being around a bunch of guys who love the game, there's nothing better than that," said Alaimo, who owns three King's weight-room records totaling 1,690 pounds.

But rehab and other decisions loomed for Alaimo before he could come back to the game.

"Knowing that I came into that year (2006) the strongest I've been and in the best shape, and then knowing that I couldn't lift 135 pounds off the bar was one of the scariest things," Alaimo recalled. "The rehabilitation was so step-by-step slow."

And doubt crept in.

"I definitely did question (whether I should come back) throughout the whole process, because I had a whole year to sit on it. ... And I knew that I did have to finish school," he said.

"A lot of kids look up to me, and there where a lot of questions about what am I going to do," Alaimo said. "I didn't know. I didn't know how I was going to feel or what I was actually going to do. But coach Mannello was there the day I got my MRI ... supporting me. He felt my pain. There was excellent support that I got from everybody -- family, community."

Jim Anderson, King's defensive coordinator, has seen how family is a priority for the linebacker.

Among his best qualities are, "How he was brought up. The love he has for his mother. His work ethic. Never puts attention on himself. All he wants to do is win. Studies the game as hard as he practices the game. And when you look at a total football player -- the offseason, the weight training, the conditioning, the in-season, the film study, the practice season -- he's the whole package."

But Alaimo was concerned because he didn't know if he was going to be as strong as he once was. Yet down the down the road, knowing that he would have passed with one year of eligibility left, it would have "eaten him up" not to take it.

"That's not the way you want to go out," he said.

Alaimo has found his strength again, and five games into his season, he is second in the Middle Atlantic Conference in tackles with 65. And in the last weekend in September against Delaware Valley, Alaimo tied King's single-game record with 21 tackles. More impressively, with the Aggies running a total of 55 offensive plays, Alaimo was in on more than 38 percent of those stops.

"Never, never is his motor slow," Anderson noted.

Alaimo is also the guy who other players have been heard to call "grandfather." And it's with that demeanor that he approaches football and carries himself on the field. And not just the coaches have taken notice.

"The head of the referee crew spoke to me after the game (Saturday)," Anderson recalled, "and he asked about the middle linebacker. He said that young man is one of the classiest young men I have ever watched play -- how he carried himself, his demeanor, his communication with the players. It's just no nonsense.

"And, unfortunately, in this day and age, (for many players) it's how much attention can be on myself -- whether they make one play or 15 plays -- and Tore has never been that way."

Mannello, from a coach's perspective, says a player like Alaimo is "why you're in this business. ... He's the soul of this football team."

As things are looking up, the injuries, Alaimo hopes, are a thing of the past. But any obstacle just means one more you can be sure he would overcome.

"I've never quit anything in my life, and I've been knocked down so many times," he said. "There are times when I have to get back up and learn how to crawl again, learn how to walk again."

That drive keeps him close to his family, close to his teammates and close to the game. As a King's captain, he has carved out his leadership style.

Alaimo is proud to be "the kind of person who makes my own path. When I was younger, I was told by my father that there are followers and there are leaders, and you can be a leader. I always take that with me and try to use that as motivation. Everything I do is preparing to play 10 games -- the way I eat, the way I train. I know there's someone out there who's better, faster, strong, so I use that as motivation."

Mannello sees that, too. "He's in a whole different level with strength and flexibility and preparation. And he's been that way ever since he's been with us. The bar keeps getting raised with him."

It's rewarding to climb a career full of mountains to one day get to the top. Injury after injury, Alaimo is now settling at the summit.

The tough situations "have developed me into the person that I am," Alaimo said. "And I know in my life and in my family life, I take that stuff with me. I'm never going to quit. You knock me down seven times, I'm going to get up eight."

Anderson credits Alaimo's depth -- as an athlete, a student and a person.

"I really believe what has made Tore the person he is for us now," Anderson said, "is that he realizes the game was almost taken away from him, and he has an outlook of enjoying the moment, enjoying the game and enjoying the people. ... He knows that he was given a gift and was able to come back. And I think he has taken the most advantage of it."

(Editor's note: Thanks to King's College Sports Information Director Bob Ziadie, who helped with a large part of the research for this story.)

National measuring stick

Want me to save you some time looking up how our Mid-Atlantic guys stack up to the rest of the nation? I thought so.

We're midway through the season, and several regional players are among the country's Top 10 statistically. Here are some of the highlights, through the games of Oct. 6:

Rushing yards per game
6th with 144.2 -- Tom Sturges, Gettysburg
Passing efficiency
6th with 181.4 rating -- Tanner Kelly, Albright
Passing yards
1st with 2,212 -- Josh Vogelbach, Guilford
3rd in with 1,501 -- Corey Sedlar, Hampden-Sydney
6th in with 1,290 -- Keith Ricca, Catholic
Receiving yards per game
2nd with 146.3 -- Stephen Asay, Albright
2nd with 134.5 -- Drew Smith, Hampden-Sydney
5th with 126.2 -- Hagen Miller, Guilford
8th with 118.5 -- Stephen Asay, Albight
Scoring per game
3rd with 16.8 points -- Phillip Carter, Bridgewater
4th with 15.6 points -- Joe Joyner, Guilford
Total tackles per game
3rd with 15.2 -- Evin O'Sullivan, Emory & Henry
4th with 14.6 -- Kyle Follweiler, Wilkes
8th with 13.8 -- Eric Dube, Dickinson
Pass sacks per game
2nd with 1.8 -- Thomas Tulaney, King's
6th with 1.6 -- Robin Shannon, Gallaudet
Total forced fumbles per game
1st with 0.75 -- Chris Wade, Emory & Henry
2nd with 0.67 -- Andrew Morrissey, Moravian
Field goals per game
3rd with 1.7 -- Brian Reckenbeil, Moravian
10th with 1.3 -- Alex Lachman, Johns Hopkins

I hope to revisit these stats at the end of the regular season to see how things shape up down the stretch. 

These were close ones

Several games this weekend didn't leave much breathing room for the victors:

Ferrum plowed its way down to the 2-yard line for a first and goal in overtime before Maryville's defense dug in its heels and stopped the drive. When the Scots got the ball, kicker Brad Daniell nailed a 34-yard field goal for the 26-23 win. Daniell didn't need the game-winning field goal to impress that day -- earlier in the game he set a school record for longest field goal, a 45-yard boot in the first quarter.

Johns Hopkins, which had only one win going into the weekend, benefited from a last-second kick from Alex Lachman to beat Dickinson 20-17. Lachman had missed a kick 55 seconds earlier, but a Dickinson fumble gave the Blue Jays the ball back and gave Lachman the chance to redeem himself, which he did with that 40-yard boot.

It wasn't until the first play of the fourth quarter that the Generals were able to post the go-ahead points in a 28-21 win over ODAC opponent Catholic. The Generals had their biggest success on the ground thanks to two touchdowns and a career-high 195 yards from Tom Pacicco. For Catholic, junior quarterback Keith Ricca was the highlight, connecting for 227 yards and three touchdowns.

The potpourri file

Gettysburg has become that team I didn't expect to keep my eye on, but I can't help but take notice now. After a big loss to Hampden-Sydney early in the season, I chalked the Bullets up to a typical .500 and looked elsewhere. Now, Gettysburg snuffs out Ursinus' perfect season and takes down Moravian, the new kid on the Centennial block, to the tune of 27-20. It's hard not to see Gettysburg in the running for the conference title, especially in a group that has been known to have multiple teams sharing a top record.

Emory and Henry wasn't at all psyched out by Hampden-Sydney and went out to play hard-nosed football just a week after the Tigers took down Bridgewater. Hampden-Sydney moved the ball (413 total offensive yards), yet the Wasps' defense did what it needed to late in the game and kept H-SC from the end zone in the second half. 

Running back Zak Thornton has continued to pile it on for Randolph-Macon, bringing the team out from the ODAC's deepest, darkest corner. He hit the ground running for 180 yards and three touchdowns Saturday as the Yellowjackets earned their fifth win of the season. R-M now stands alone as the only 2-0 Old Dominion Athletic Conference team. 

Albright helped itself stay atop the MAC heap with a 40-7 throttling of Lycoming. Could the Lions, which were just 2-8 overall last season, snag the conference's automatic qualifier spot this year? Time will tell, and with Wilkes, Widener and Delaware Valley on tap, the hardest part is still to come.

Easing up on my travels

After a rigorous first five weeks where I took in seven games, hitting teams from every conference in person at least once, I'm going to take things a bit easier for the month of October, probably catching only one game live. And that means a change in how I approach things. Part of the new plan in my writing, as exemplified by this week's feature on Tore Alaimo, is to look at a couple of the players who have made a significant impact in the Mid-Atlantic, whether on the field or off of it. I look forward to meeting these players, and I hope that you will look forward to reading about them.

High five

The Around the Mid-Atlantic top teams:
1. Christopher Newport
2. Bridgewater
3. Dickinson
4. Widener
5. Muhlenberg

Well, Hampden-Sydney's rise into the High Five was short lived, though it should be noted that the team's loss this past week came at the hands of a strong Wasp squad. It is hard to punish a team for such a loss. The Mules break into a spot after a win on Saturday that left little doubt about their ability to put up points. One the cusp are Delaware Valley and Albright, and some strong performances against their conferences' better teams could help them climb this ladder.

At the head of the class

By grade level, here are the mid-Atlantic's players of the week:
Freshman
A.J. Albert, linebacker, Johns Hopkins: Scooped up two fumbles -- including the one that set up the game-winning score -- and notched a career-high 11 tackles in the Blue Jays' victory over Dickinson.

Sophomore
Michael Caparaso, quarterback, Greensboro: Threw for 230 yards and three touchdowns in the Pride's loss to CNU.

Junior
John DeLuca, running back, Muhlenberg: Tied a school record with four rushing touchdowns while piling up a personal-best 161 yards in a 44-3 win over Juniata.

Senior
Orlando Brown, cornerback, Widener: Pulled in two interceptions against King's, putting him in a tie at the top of the conference for the season. 

Games of the week

Emory and Henry at Randolph-Macon: The sting-related puns will no doubt be flying this weekend as the Wasps and Yellowjackets face off in a battle of the ODAC's only two teams that are undefeated in conference play. R-M is certainly a surprise in this position, but E&H also is a little unexpected. But solid play throughout the year by a new quarterback has helped get the Wasps over some humps and competing for the conference crown.

Ursinus at Johns Hopkins: Riding high off a big win against Dickinson, the Blue Jays have a chance to take another big jump with a win against Ursinus. And for the Bears, who already have a conference loss, each game is crucial if the AQ is going to remain in sight.

Guilford at Bridgewater: It's hard not to see the potential pitfalls that await Bridgewater. The Eagles lost against the Quakers last season, and another loss could all but zap any chance Bridgewater has for making the postseason. But let's not forget the Guilford side of things, which needs to win to help it hang on among the ODAC's top teams. With surprise season performances from Randolph-Macon and Catholic, it's been crowded near the top.