Rojanapairat checks his grip and slowly begins his backswing. Suddenly, at the midpoint of his stroke his cool countenance vanishes a sharp grimace befalls his face.

To be completely frank, it is a miracle that Rojanapairat is able to golf during his senior season. A two-sport star, Rojanapairat gutted his way through an injury-riddled football season. Even before the first preseason game, he sustained a high left ankle sprain during practice. His unlucky season continued with pinched nerves and dead arms resulting from the beatings he took.

However, gutting through injuries is nothing new for Rojanapairat.

During the Turkey Bowl championship game, on the first play of the second half, Rojanapairat found himself on the bottom of a pile of Mustangs and Cardinals and was forced to leave the game with another high ankle sprain this time on his right ankle.

"He might seem big, soft and lovable like a teddy bear, but he'll play through any injury and any hardship. He's an animal." CARTER ROCKWELL senior quarterback

Overcoming the pain, Rojanapairat reentered in the fourth quarter with both ankles wrapped, and valiantly finished what proved to be a disappointing 29-22 loss.

“He might seem big, soft and lovable like a teddy bear. But he’ll play through any injury and any hardship,” senior quarterback Carter Rockwell explained. “He’s an animal.”

Watching Rojanapairat limping towards his car after the loss, supported by his family members’ arms, one could not imagine him golfing again.

But resiliency would prove to be a trait deeply engrained in Rojanapairat’s spirit.

“He played the whole football season with two bad ankles and two bad shoulders so I don’t think anything will stop him from playing golf,” Rockwell said.

Forced onto crutches for four weeks, he struggled to move around school. Immediately after the season, Rojanapairat began attending physical therapy once a week to rehabilitate his left shoulder and ankles.

“I always knew I was going to come back,” Rojanapairat said. “The physical therapy helped me bring the strength back in my shoulder. My ankle is healed, but a little tendonitis still remains.”

And now he stands at Lincoln Golf Course, midway through his first stroke of the golf season he never should have been a part of. His club flies toward the golf ball and as it makes contact, a deep breath of relief escapes Rojanapairat’s lips.

The ball flies off his club and hits squarely on the fairway, and suddenly the clouds that had hung over the Cardinals’ gloomy season have somewhat cleared.

However, another senior’s absence still remains a serious issue for the golf squad. The extremely talented Shane Murphy has decided against playing golf this year.

“It’s a shame because he’d be the best player on the squad,” Rojanapairat said.

Murphy was the golden boy; he came to Lowell and instantly cemented a starting spot on the golf team. He was good then and was expected to be great. If Murphy was playing golf this season, the AAA championship would once again be a foregone conclusion. Now, it is as foggy as an afternoon at Lincoln Golf Course.

The questions were amplified when Lowell suffered an uncharacteristic loss against Wallenberg on March 8. “The first match came up really quick and we didn’t have a chance to practice at Golden Gate, so all of us struggled,” Rojanapairat said. “We only lost by two strokes so I’m not too concerned.”

The team bounced back with style, dominating Burton and Marshall on March 12 at Lincoln Park Golf Course by 90 strokes and 114 strokes, respectively. “My game is slowly coming back, and (senior Michael) Horse (Digneo) and junior Edward Chen are slowly coming along,” Rojanapairat said. “This team isn’t as experienced as it was in the past so it’s going to take a lot of work to get the younger players going.”

The team showed a lot of improvement, but without Murphy and with Rojanapairat’s injuries, there is still a long way to go. “Our team score is not as low as it needs to be to compete for the championship,” Rojanapairat explained. “It might be very close this year. We need to be a lot sharper than we did in the past, because it’s going to be a dogfight to the finish.”

Digneo was more confident. “It will make it interesting,” he said. “It won’t be so easy like in the past, but I think we will all step up and continue the streak of championships.”