WINTHROP — The scar is a reminder of the damage that has taken place. Even if Dom Trott’s play is not.

On the field, Trott does everything for the Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale football team, and he does it at full speed. Leading tackler at middle linebacker. Leader in tackles for loss. On offense he’s the leading rusher, a bruising fullback averaging more than 10 yards per carry.

“The kid plays football in his sleep,” Ramblers coach Dave St. Hilaire said. “The other day, he said, ‘Coach, I’d rather play every snap than blow a team out and have to sit out.’ He just wants to play football.”

On defense, Trott has 16 tackles through three games, including six for loss, plus a sack and an interception. On offense, he’s rushed 38 times for 438 yards, an 11.5-yard average, and seven touchdowns. He’s wherever the ball is, either carrying it himself or delivering a blow to the opponent carrying it.

“My goals coming in were I wanted to be one of the meanest people out on the field,” Trott said. “I wanted people to actually be scared to tackle me, be scared of my name. I’m going to keep pushing for that goal. I want to be one of the best running backs we’ve had in a while.”

He’s done it all while sporting a scar on his right knee that starts to the right of the kneecap, runs down below it and then straight down the top of the shin, a result of surgery to fix a leg Trott broke in April. While a member of the Monmouth track and field team, Trott was playing the basketball game “knockout” when he jumped, landed while twisting his foot, and felt the leg snap.

“It shattered the bottom half of my knee and top half of my tibia,” he said.

It was a proximal tibia fracture, one that required two screws in the front of his leg and a plate along the side to hold the area together and had him in a brace for six to eight weeks. Doctors told him his football season was in doubt, but he was walking by the time physical therapy began, and he was out and cleared by the end of July.

“The minute I got there, I was walking, they were like, ‘Oh, you’re way ahead of schedule,'” Trott said. “I was ready to go. I started lifting again, running, sprinting, getting ready for the season.”

Still, having missed spring camp and cardio portions of summer camp, the Ramblers weren’t sure how big of a role he would be able to play.

“We didn’t know if he’d be ready for the start of the season,” St. Hilaire said. “He couldn’t do spring camp with us, he did our summer camp a little bit. … But he couldn’t get any cardio work (early in the summer), with his leg. He couldn’t run.”

Trott figured he would be back, but he had to learn to trust the leg again. He didn’t know he was back completely until the season opener against Bucksport.

“I was a little hesitant coming in, and I’ll be honest, I was a little scared,” he said. “I was like, ‘This could be my last game of the year if something happens.’ But I took a few hits to the knees and I (thought), ‘No, I’m back.'”

There’s been no slowing him since. Trott ran 18 times for 158 yards and four scores against Bucksport, six times for 55 yards against John Bapst and 14 times for 225 yards and three touchdowns against Poland.

So much for working his way back.

“There’s no hesitancy,” St. Hilaire said. “He’s 110 miles an hour, every play.”

With Trott leading the way, the Ramblers have rolled.

“In order for us to run our offense, our Wing T and our stuff with the I, we really like that fullback that can run,” St. Hilaire said. “He would rather run you over than outrace you or run around you. He would rather truck you. That’s just the way he thinks, that’s the way he plays, and we’re OK with that.”

On the other side of the ball, Trott, a converted defensive end, is at home in the middle of the Ramblers’ defense.

“He’s a tackling machine,” St. Hilaire said. “Defensively, he’s still learning the position. He still needs to learn some things and read his keys better and react. But, boy, he can react. He closes ground so fast. We’ve got games on film where he’s on the other end of the field, the quarterback starts to run the other way, and he just runs him down.

“To be where he’s at right now, with the severity of the injury that he had, it’s just amazing.”

And Trott loves being an every-down player. He was introduced to football at a young age, and didn’t take to the sport right away.

“They used to have to drag me to practice,” he said.

Things have changed. Now the hard part is dragging him off the field.

“I could not picture myself without football nowadays,” he said. “It feels good that I can help in a positive way. I know I can do better, and we can do better. I think with more time to come this season, you’ll see. We’re going to do even better things.”

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