Savo trying to bounce back strong for Souhegan football

[Editor’s Note: This story also appears in the 2017 Football Prospectus.]

Dante Savo knew the moment it happened, it wasn't good.

Early in the second half of the Souhegan High School football team's final game in 2016, Savo took a handoff, went to his left and tried to cut upfield.

But as he planted his leg to make the move, a Hollis Brookline player hit Savo on his right shoulder.

"As soon as it happened, I knew something was wrong," he said. "I knew my knee was not the way it should have been. I thought I broke a bone or something, but turned out it was my ACL."

Savo not only missed the rest of the final game of his junior year, but the injury forced him to sit out the entire lacrosse season in the spring. While he's not quite at full speed heading into the start of football season, he is prepared to pick up where he left off.

"As soon as it happened, I was focused on getting ready to come back out this season and tear it up," Savo said. "I’ll have some knee aches or something like that. My knee is almost a hundred percent, so I’ll be ready this season."

That's good news for Robin Bowkett, who will be in his first year coaching Souhegan this fall.

One of the first things Bowkett, who graduated from Souhegan in 2001, did when he got the job was jump on Hudl - the website many teams use to host game film - to see what the Sabers looked like last season.

"You could tell that he was good from the get-go," Bowkett said. "He is a guy you want to get the ball to. He’s explosive with it in his hands and great in space, he can make guys miss. He has a little something that some other guys don’t have."

The question is, when will the Sabers have that player that Bowkett watched on film? The coach believes it'll be sooner than expected.

"He is ahead of where I was expecting him to be at this point," Bowkett said. "It’s all about determination and working hard. The fact that he’s here every day for our optional workouts and he’s participating in 7-on-7s, he’s coming back in terms of getting there. He’s not quite there, but he doesn’t look like he’s missed a step."

Savo knows that this season will be key for him, not just as a key senior for a team with high expectations, but also for any plans that he has of playing college football.

Although he started playing lacrosse first, Savo describes himself as a football player and that's what he's focused on doing at the next level.

"I feel like I have to go out there and give everything I have this year," he said. "Last year, I don’t know if I blew anyone away on the field. This year, I need to come out and give it everything I’ve got in every game."

Bowkett, who coached at Lake Forest (Ill.) Academy last season and has also coached at Saint Anselm College and Salve Regina University, believes that Savo will be able to make up for lost time this season, and by the end of the year, will be on the radar of college coaches.

"He does have the junior tape and that’s going to be fine," Bowkett said. "They may say let’s see the first four games of the year. If he can get back to the old Dante and then some, he’s got a shot. He’s definitely a college football player, it’s just a matter of where."