PENDLETON, Ind. — The scene played out like a movie script. One by one, the Pendleton Heights players came up to their football coach, John Broughton last Friday night with the same simple request–put Nick Bennett in the game, and let him score a touchdown.

“It’s pretty awesome just the fact that everybody wanted me out there to get it,” Bennett said. “Then, like, on the field, just the entire team surrounded me. It was a real ‘Rudy’ moment.”

“Rudy,” of course, refers to the 1993 film based on the life story of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, a walk-on who achieved his dream of playing at Notre Dame.

There’s much in common with Bennett’s experience at Pendleton Heights.

Midway through last season, Bennett tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He underwent surgery and was told it would be a seven-to-nine month recovery, potentially putting his senior season at risk.

He made it back in six-and-a-half months, just in time for the annual Green and White scrimmage.

Bennett — who’s listed at 5-foot-7 and 172 pounds on the Max Preps high school sports website — got the ball at the 2-yard line, ran off right tackle and scored. It made little difference in the 41-7 demolition of rival Mount Vernon, but it was one of the game’s most memorable moments.

Friday’s touchdown run was his only varsity carry this year. He spent the regular season as a rare senior captain for the junior varsity and as a star on the Arabians’ scout team.

Broughton’s initial reaction was ‘pump the brakes’.

“I thought, ‘Aw, I don’t know about that,'” he recalled following Tuesday’s practice. “Because there’s other guys, too, but Nick’s a senior. He’s hung in there and it was great.”

 “You know you can do a lot of stuff when you’ve got a big heart, and he’s been invaluable for us on our scout teams. He’s got several of those stickers on his helmet because he’s been scout team player of the week. Because he just works hard out there.”

“I don’t love anything more than I do football,” Bennett said simply. “I wanted to be able to play my full (senior) season. Whether it was varsity or JV, I just wanted to play.”

“I look forward every day just coming to practice just because I know once the season’s over I can’t play anymore,” Bennett said. “So I’m enjoying every single moment of it. I know all the seniors are, too. Just want to be able to keep this season going, just to be able to play one more down.”

Bremer writes for The Anderson (Indiana) Herald Bulletin.