Matt Wixon

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When Jake Vines injured his left knee at the end of an 18-yard run last season, he didn't know that he had torn his ACL. But when he injured the same knee playing basketball six weeks ago, the Lake Highlands senior knew what it was.

"I felt the exact same thing I felt the first time," Vines said.

In his knee, anyway. But the feeling in his heart, after a second ACL tear in less than a year, was different.

"At first, I was just in disbelief," Vines said. "Like how could this happen?"

Vines, who was Lake Highlands' starting quarterback as a junior and made the varsity basketball team as a sophomore, was just unlucky. Vines' doctor told him about 1 to 3 percent of athletes who have ACL reconstruction surgery suffer another tear in the first year.

MIKE STONE / Special to DMN

Jake Vines started at quarterback for Lake Highlands last season, but he has torn his ACL twice in less than a year. He now helps the football team by breaking down film.

After the first injury, Vines decided to give up football to concentrate on basketball, the sport he hoped to play in college. He had been running full speed for only a few months when he suffered the second injury, which will require six months of rehabilitation.

If not for the injuries, Vines (6-3, 180) would probably be spending his senior year starting for the football and basketball teams. But although Vines has played his last game in a Lake Highlands uniform, he isn't done helping the Wildcats win.

After the second knee injury, Vines asked football coach Scott Smith if he could help out with the team. Smith welcomed the help, and since then, Vines has broken down film and uploaded it to computers. Now that Vines can get around in a knee brace, he also might help at practice by throwing passes to receivers or defensive backs.

"I just wanted to be involved as much as I could be," Vines said. "All of my friends play football, so I wanted to be out there."

Vines still hopes to play college basketball at Trinity in San Antonio or Samford in Birmingham, Ala. His doctor told him he can recover from a second ACL tear to play again.

For now, Vines is happy to be part of a team that has won five straight games and is at the top of District 9-5A. And his coach is happy to have him back.

"He's a great kid," Smith said, "and you can't have too many great kids hanging around your program."

YEARBOOK MOMENT: During this week three years ago, Southlake Carroll cornerback Anthony Ford intercepted a pass with 1:05 left in the game to preserve a 28-23 victory over Grapevine. Grapevine led, 21-14, at halftime before Carroll rallied to win its 25th straight game.

A RARE THREAT: Highland Park won its first four District 10-4A games this season by an average of 43 points. It won the fifth by only three, thanks largely to Royse City quarterback Richard Morrison, who threw four touchdown passes and ran for two more TDs in the Scots' 46-43 win. It was Highland Park's smallest margin of victory in a district game since its 35-34 win over Wylie in 2004, when Wylie quarterback Chase Gibson threw for 418 yards and two touchdown passes and ran for two more scores.

HERE COMES THE DEFENSE: Kaufman vaulted from No. 10 to No. 4 in SportsDay's Class 3A-others area rankings after last week's 20-17 win over then-No. 1 Kennedale. It was the fifth straight win for Kaufman after it opened the season 0-3. In the three losses, Kaufman allowed opponents an average of 494 yards per game. In the five wins, the defense has given up an average of 235.