Gazette-Times reporter

Jordan Fred’s finger injury seemed to come at the worst possible time.

Fred hurt his left index finger during the week before he was to take the field for the Corvallis High football team against Lebanon in a key Mid-Willamette Conference football game.

As a wide receiver, Fred’s problem was he needed to be able to catch the ball, a task that could now be done only with a sharp jab of pain.

Instead of getting it looked at and going in for surgery, Fred chose to endure the injury for the football season. It was a decision that eventually led to a state championship for the Spartans and a first-team all-state selection for Fred. He is the Gazette-Times High School Boys Athlete of the Year.

That Friday night, Fred ran a corner route and caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Drew Hubel to give CHS a come-from-behind 42-37 win over the Warriors.

Fred quickly got used to the pain, which was at its worst during practice where he would catch quite a few passes. He realized he could get through games OK because he would only have to catch five or six balls. The situation actually helped him as a receiver.

“At first it was kind of frustrating because you can’t use one of your fingers to catch the ball because it would hurt every time the ball would hit it,” Fred said. “That part was frustrating, but then at the same time I think it also made me a better receiver throughout the season because I had to actually concentrate, watch the ball into my hands and make sure it didn’t actually hit my finger.”

With 31 catches and eight touchdowns in the regular season, Fred played well enough to land first-team all-MWC honors.

The big numbers were to come.

The Spartans rolled past Klamath Union, 48-9, in the first game of the 5A playoffs and had a big day on the ground, though Fred did have a 55-yard touchdown catch and finished with two receptions for 89 yards.

It was the next week at Sherwood when Fred made his name statewide. He caught scoring throws of 78, 50 and 32 yards and finished with four catches for 188 yards in a 34-13 win.

In the rematch with Lebanon, he had five receptions for 99 yards and a 52-yard score.

Then he had the biggest touchdown catch of his career against West Albany in the title game. The Spartans trailed 14-7 late in the fourth and coach Chris McGowan called a play the team had scored on in four straight games. McGowan figured the Bulldogs would shift their safety to cover Fred, so he made tight end Teddy Badege the primary receiver, with the belief that he would be open over the middle for a big gain.

Fred quickly realized that the West Albany safety had gone for Badege and left him alone. Fred sprinted downfield, looked back and saw the ball coming.

“I noticed I was open and it caught me a little bit by surprise,” he said. “Drew read the defense perfectly and he delivered the ball right on target. When it was in the air, I was just looking up and (thinking), ‘It’s coming to me.’

“It seemed like it was coming in slow motion, but all of a sudden it was there.”

Fred snatched the ball out of the air and sprinted in for the score to tie the game at 14-14. It went into three overtimes before CHS kicker Wade Penner won it with a field goal.

“I remember crossing the goal line thinking, ‘I just scored a touchdown in the championship game,’ ” Fred said. “It was a pretty amazing moment in my football career.”

Finally, it was time to fix the finger. Fred went in for surgery in January to get the repair job. The injury was so complex that it took a long time to heal after surgery and kept him off the court for his senior season of basketball.

Jordan said it was tough to sit on the sideline and watch while his teammates played, but he had the football season to look back on.

“It was a great football season, one of those that I don’t regret holding out toward the end of the season to get my finger looked at,” he said. “That made it worthwhile, but it was hard sitting out.”

Fred went on to run track, helping the Spartans’ 1,600 relay team to second in state and finishing seventh in the 400.

He is headed to Greenville, Ill. in the fall to play football for Greenville College, a Division III program. Fred plans to study physical therapy.

“I’m hopefully going to be able to play right away, which is why I was kind of leaning toward playing in a smaller division instead of walking on at Portland State or Colorado State, which were a couple options,” he said. “I never thought I’d end up in the Midwest. I’ll go out there and see how it goes.”