The most pain Devan Riggs’ felt was the time lost.
Not the pain from breaking his collarbone twice in four months. Not a combined 10 months of rehabilitation, including seven after his 2015 football season at Hockinson ended prematurely.
That, in part, is why Riggs, a recent Hockinson High School graduate, is thankful for the opportunity to play in Saturday’s annual Freedom Bowl Classic football game, featuring some of Southwest Washington’s top graduated seniors in their final high-school game. He views it as a privilege, and he also views it as making up for the lost time.
“It’s nice to be out here again,” Riggs said this week, as the East and West all-stars face off in Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. game at McKenzie Stadium. “It’s nice to put the cleats back on, and where the helmet again. Especially now.”
You see, the tides turned in Riggs’ favor again this past fall — his senior year — after some hard-pressed luck in 2015. That’s when he broke his left collarbone twice in a four-month span; first was at summer team camp, and when he returned for the Week 5 nonleague game against Hudson’s Bay after three months of rehab, he broke it again — in the same spot — trying to avoid an Eagles player heading out of bounds.
