On the first day of training camp last year, Junior Chery suffered a season-ending injury. He's back on the field this season and Scott Souza, sports editor of the News Tribune, recently caught up with the Waltham High product. This article appeared in the Aug. 21 edition of the Waltham News Tribune and online at waltham.wickedlocal.com

By Scott Souza (ssouza@wickedlocal.com)
Posted Aug. 21, 2014 @ 12:56 pm

WALTHAM – Junior Chery was seemingly in the perfect position to make a big impact in football at the collegiate level right around the corner from where he grew up playing the sport.

The former Waltham High star running back and defensive back was a prized recruit of his hometown Bentley University. There were spots open in the defensive backfield following the graduation of a veteran crew that included former Waltham High standouts Don Hopkins and Steve Hopkins. Chery was ready to seize that opportunity when he took the field for the very first conditioning practice of training camp last August.

"I was running the 300(-meter) conditioning test," he recalled. "When I went to turn, my knee kind of twisted. I felt a sharp pain, tumbled to the ground. It was torn from there."

Chery said he didn't think he had ripped the anterior cruciate ligament that day as he stood on the sideline. But when it swelled up the next morning he went for an MRI that revealed the extent of the injury.

For the rest of the story, please click here.