Injury to ex-CMR player could have been ‘so much worse’

Payton Sexe thought the wind had been knocked out of him.

It was Sept. 17, and the Carroll College football team was playing Montana State-Northern in Havre, and he tried to do what was asked of him a thousand times before: cause havoc and make something happen along the defensive line.

In what was only his second play of the day, he pushed aside several Lights players on the offensive line and went in for a tackle. A fellow teammate’s helmet collided with the side of his body, in the abdomen area. He rested on the grass for a few seconds before the team trainer aided him in exiting the field. But he returned to action in the fourth quarter.

It wasn’t until later on, when he was further examined by a doctor, he was told that he had lacerated his kidney and liver. While it was far from good news, Sexe was relieved that no surgery was required and that he could resume certain activities in six weeks, he said.

“Injuries are always tough,” Sexe, the former C.M. Russell High standout, said. “You just have to keep pushing through it, and individually you have to look toward next year while also offering what you can for the team – and that’s going to meetings, going to practice when you can and stuff like that. You just have to push through it.”

Sexe isn’t the only former Rustler battling adversity at Carroll.

Saints tight end Eric Dawson is out for the season, Carroll head coach Mike Van Diest said. He suffered a wrist injury early in the season, needed surgery and won’t be ready until the spring. Dawson is a junior and last year caught 29 balls for 388 yards and a touchdown. He had five catches for 72 yards and a score this season.

A redshirt freshman, Sexe saw limited time in the team’s first three contests, registering five tackles. Backing up sixth-year senior defensive tackle Kyle Smith, an opportunity for extended playing time hadn’t yet presented itself.

So Sexe, now likely out for the season, has to wait just a little bit longer. He stood on the sideline this past Saturday as the Saints lost to Southern Oregon 34-14 and dropped to 1-3 on the season.

“It’s always tough to see that,” Sexe said. “You just have to realize that we are going to get things gelled together eventually and get things figured out. And I’ll get my time when it comes, whenever it does.”

Sexe, the son of ex-Montana Grizzly linebacker Doug Sexe, had a tremendous high school career for the Rustlers, displaying tremendous speed and strength on the edge and helping CMR to a 10-3 record and an appearance in the state championship game.

He earned first-team All-State honors in his final campaign and was also selected to the Tribune’s Super-State Team.

Tabbed the East’s Most Valuable Player on defense during that 2014 season, Sexe has since added about 40 pounds to his frame and now stands 6 foot and weighs 250 pounds. From the time he stepped on campus in Helena to now, he said he has improved exponentially.

His toughness, something that’s always been there, has gotten even better, he said. It’s evident by him returning to the field two Saturdays ago with a lacerated kidney and liver. Refining certain body movements, like throwing his hands faster and subtleties with his hips, is a focus moving forward, he said.

“I’ve learned a lot about techniques and a lot of just general knowledge about football this year and last year that I didn’t have, which is how everybody is,” he said. “You improve so much in that one-year time frame, a lot of people do, from high school. It’s cool to see.”

And while the aftermath of his collision on that play against the Lights wasn’t, he’s consoled by the fact that he still has a long way to go in his career as a college football player.

“The thing that’s relieving for me is that it could have gone so much, so much worse,” Sexe said. “I’m just thankful that I didn’t get injured too bad. I have to keep pushing through it.”