The wind was whipping and the sheeting rain felt like and open-handed slap on your face at North Royalton’s Serpentini Stadium on Nov. 22. Even with Mother Nature’s wrath, there was nowhere else Jake LaVerde would rather have been. That’s because for the first time since Sept. 27, LaVerde was back on the field playing football with his buddies on the Kirtland football team. After nearly eight full weeks of non-football activities as he recovered from a broken arm he sustained in a Week 6 game against Fairview, LaVerde made his long-awaited return to the gridiron for the Hornets’ 41-6 win over Dalton in the Division VI, Region 21 championship game. LaVerde carried nine times for 46 yards and didn’t score a touchdown, and the only pass he threw in the monsoon-like weather was intercepted. But one would have had a hard time wiping the smile off his face — even during pregame warmups — because he was back doing what he loves, playing football with his teammates. “It felt great,” LaVerde said after the game, back in the warm and dry confines of his team’s locker room. “I hadn’t been back for, what, eight weeks or something like that?” And what a long eight weeks it was for him. LaVerde broke his left, non-throwing arm while making a tackle in the third quarter of the Hornets’ 65-16 CVC Valley Division game against Fairview on Sept. 27. Hs radius and ulna bones broke to the point they nearly poked through the skin, necessitating a transport to a nearby hospital. A few days later, Dr. Jacob Calcei performed a surgery that inserted three plates and 16 screws into LaVerde’s arm. Calcei is an orthopedic surgeon on the staff of the Browns. “Dr. Jacob Calcei is awesome,” said Kirtland coach Tiger LaVerde, who doubles as Jake’s father. “He did a lot to get Jake back as quickly as possible. I have to give him a lot of credit. He even sent us to the Browns facility to get casted up so he could play tonight, so he could have a little extra protection to play. “(Calcei) is very instrumental in getting him back on the field.” LaVerde wore that padded cast on his left arm and did his best at avoiding any hard, direct hits on his surgically-repaired arm. “It’s definitely dangerous to stiff-arm or land on it wrong,” he said. “I was just trying to protect it. I could only run with the ball in my right arm, so that felt a little weird. I just put my shoulder down and didn’t juke as much. That takes away a part of my game, but it’s all right.” LaVerde said the recovery process was hard, just because of the waiting. He said he was able to keep in shape with cardio workouts, but didn’t get the official release until the Monday before his team’s regional final against Dalton. He said his nerves were ramped up on two fronts — waiting to hear if the doctors were going to release him to play and also convincing his mother, Mary, that he’d be OK to play again. “That was a little rough,” he said of convincing his mother, “but it’s OK.” His father/coach enjoyed seeing him back on the field again. He admitted, “I was nervous to put him out there for sure,” but after doctors gave the OK and the special arm pad was secured, all was fine. “He doesn’t like sitting and watching,” Coach LaVerde said. “You could tell he wasn’t happy, but he hung in there. He’s a good leader. He encouraged the young kids, kept himself in shape and was just hoping to get a chance to play again. Every week he heals a little bit more.” With his 46 yards rushing in the win over Dalton, LaVerde has carried 69 times for 990 yard and eight touchdowns. He had 60 carries for 941 yards and eight scores prior to being injured in the Fairview game. He sat out the second half of the regional final as a precautionary measure, as Kirtland led, 28-0, at the half and was well en route to the state final four bid. Senior Max Paul, who was 7-0 in replacing injured LaVerde, played the second half. Paul has thrown for 476 yards and three touchdowns as Kirtland’s quarterback this season. “Max got a chance to play and do what he’s done the last six or seven weeks,” Coach LaVerde said. “It couldn’t have gone better.” Kirtland (14-0) will face Galion Northmor (14-0) in a Division VI state semifinal on Nov. 29 at Minerva’s Hines Stadium. Galion Northmor at Kirtland What: Division VI state semifinal game When: 7 p.m., Nov. 29 Where: Hines Stadium, 501 Stadium St., Minerva Records: Kirtland 14-0, Galion Northmor 14-0