Starting his sophomore year at the junior varsity level, Aayan Bhatti was hoping to work his way up to Stagg’s varsity team by the end of last season.
Instead, Bhatti suffered a torn ligament in his ankle in the middle of the fall and was sidelined.
“It was six or seven months just sitting and watching,” Bhatti said. “You want to be out there playing. But there are always fall backs in your career, so I just had to learn from it and adjust.
“I was just eager to get back on the field and play for varsity.”
Bhatti is back, starting his varsity career with a bang. The junior forward scored his sixth goal of the season Monday, allowing the host Chargers to rally for a 1-1 tie with Reavis in Palos Hills.
Adrian Tavera had the assist and Michael Calderon made four saves for Stagg (3-0-1).
Juvenal Padilla scored the goal, Vlad Yaremkiv provided an assist and Bart Obrochta finished with four saves for Reavis (1-2-2).
Bhatti said it was tough for him to get back to full speed after the injury.
“It’s just like getting your stuff back,” Bhatti said. “I was super slow at first. I can still sometimes feel it. The ankle, I had to adjust to it because I wasn’t 100%. I wasn’t as good as I used to be at first. But I had to work hard and get back into it.”
Bhatti feels like himself again, and he showed that in the second half Monday. After Reavis took the lead on Padilla’s goal with 12 seconds left in the first half, the Chargers responded with a surge after halftime.
They came up with the equalizer with 31:33 remaining as Bhatti and Tavera worked a give-and-go, Bhatti getting the ball back in the middle of the field and ripping in a shot from 15 yards.
Stagg coach Mike Kealy knows Bhatti has that kind of finishing ability.
“Aayan is an electric player,” Kealy said. “What he lacks in size, he has in quickness and speed. He’s been coming off the bench for us sometimes and he’s still producing.”
Bhatti credited his connection with his teammates for his fast start to the season.
“I’ve played with these guys my whole life so they know my moves,” Bhatti said. “They’ve just been finding me and I’ve been outsmarting defenders, I guess. Then it’s just putting away the goals for my team.”
While Bhatti’s comeback story played out over the last several months, Padilla produced a redemption tale of his own in mere minutes Monday for Reavis.
Padilla was pulled out of the game by Reavis coach Mark Gniadek, who did not like how Padilla reacted to missing a scoring opportunity earlier in the first half.
“He’s one of our best players when his head’s in it,” Gniadek said. “He’s gotten so much better over the years. But he had awful body language for a while. We took him off, had a quick talk and put him right back in. When he’s good, we’re at our best.”
Padilla got back on the field and scored his first goal of the season on a wild scramble in front of the net in the closing seconds of the first half.
After a long throw-in from Blake Stefanek, Yaremkiv got a touch on the ball and sent it toward the net, where Padilla finished off the play.
“Going to the bench, it made me hungry to score,” Padilla said. “Not getting down on myself and keeping a positive attitude, I know that’s something I need to work on a little bit.”
