A Season That Never Was Post Falls Football Player Josh Van Brunt Watches From Sidelines After Devastating Accident

He’s listed on the team roster, but No. 76 hasn’t played for the Post Falls High School football team this year.

And won’t. The closest Josh Van Brunt and his jersey have gotten to the field this season has been while balancing himself on crutches as he watches his teammates from the sideline.

A near-fatal motorcycle accident ended Van Brunt’s senior season a day before it was supposed to start.

Van Brunt has attended home games, and he was there last Friday when the defending Inland Empire League champion Trojans posted their first conference victory, an 18-7 win at Lake City.

It’s been difficult for him to watch, particularly because he’s a senior and he would have started.

He’ll be with the team Friday when the Trojans play their final regular-season game at home, against Coeur d’Alene. And he hopes to be off his crutches the following week when the Trojans travel to Sandpoint for a game they’ll most likely need to win to earn a state playoff berth.

Van Brunt takes consolation in that he would have been starting at either right guard or center. Last year, he played 75 percent of the time from the midway point of last season, sharing left guard with Shawn Huff. He started in the Trojans’ final game, the heartbreaking 30-27 state semifinal loss to Lewiston.

It would turn out to be his only varsity start.

Van Brunt and his father had spent a couple of days at a family reunion in Omak, Wash., when they set out for home on a sunny August afternoon, the day before two-a-day practices started.

They were riding motorcycles, Van Brunt trailing his father by about half a football field. About 20 miles east of Omak, Van Brunt slowed to 45 mph, the speed limit, for a sharp curve. As he entered the corner, tipping his motorcycle as close to the pavement as possible without his leg touching, he hit what he later thought was an oil spot.

Still on his motorcycle, Van Brunt started sliding into the other lane toward an oncoming recreational vehicle. His left leg hit the side of the RV, then he flipped. As he crashed onto the pavement, the motorcycle landed on top of him, breaking his upper back.

He slid to a stop, the bike still on top of him. His dad had swerved wide coming around the same curve but managed to recover and avoid the RV.

As his father lifted the mangled motorcycle off his son, the first sign of serious injury was evident: Josh’s left leg, broken above his knee, was bent at an impossible angle.

Josh Van Brunt has no memory of the accident. The last thing he remembers of that Sunday was stopping for gas in Omak before heading home.

His first memories after the accident are of a week and a half later, when he realized he was in the hospital.

He believes he’s alive today because he wore a helmet. “It was shattered in three places,” Van Brunt said.

He was told later that he came close to dying; doctors were initially concerned about a brain injury. His injuries included:

A broken sternum.

A collapsed lung.

Two broken ribs.

A collapsed artery under the left knee that almost caused him to lose his leg because of the lack of blood flow.

A ruptured spleen that had to be removed.

He spent a month in the hospital, missing the first two weeks of school. He’s had five surgeries. He has a steel rod in his upper left leg. It will be removed in a year.

Though he doesn’t recall the moment, Van Brunt told his father a couple of days after coming out of his first surgery that he’d make it back for football in a couple of weeks.

“I was really looking forward to the season because we had some big goals after last year,” Van Brunt said. “It was a couple weeks after the accident that it clicked - I wasn’t going to play.”

His teammates signed a football and gave it to him. The seniors and a few of the underclassmen put No. 76 on their helmets.

Van Brunt has been an inspiration to the team.

“We thought about him while going through double days, knowing he wanted to be with us,” teammate and close friend Elden Hallock said. “We were really counting on him starting for us,” coach Jerry Lee said. “We had a meeting the Wednesday (before his accident) and he was really fired up and ready to go. He had really improved a lot from his sophomore to junior year. He had become really sound. He didn’t have a whole lot of size, but he was quick and stayed with his blocks.”

Lee learned of the accident the morning of the first practice.

“At first it didn’t sound good at all; there were a lot of questions early,” Lee said.

The coach has talked a handful of times about Van Brunt’s accident with his team, reminding them how fortunate they are to participate in athletics.

“He’s still a part of our team,” Lee said.

Van Brunt would love to throw his crutches down, jump on the line and open holes for running back Josh Mort.

“Football is about the only thing I miss,” he said. “It’s the biggest disappointment. I’m just thankful to be alive.”

In time, Van Brunt will recover. And he can’t wait to take a ride on a motorcycle again.

Until then, he’ll be on the sidelines, hopefully following the Trojans for more than two more weeks.

, DataTimes