All’s well that ends well! That is the way that Dominick Strickland is looking at things after one of the most improbable journey of ups and downs through a football season that you will ever see a young man go through. The ending as such actually represents a new dual beginning as Strickland has committed to continue his football playing career at Centenary College, which in 2024 will field a football team for the first time since 1941. The timing couldn’t be more perfect for Strickland as it allows him an extended period to get healthy again after suffering through injuries that shortened his senior season at JHHS.
“I am really happy for Dom to get the chance to continue to play,” said JHHS head football coach Terrance Blankenship. “He is a fine young man who refused to let adversity stop him from achieving his dream of playing college football. I anticipate that if he can stay healthy he will have a great college career.”
A look back at Strickland’s journey to the collegiate ranks is something that even the most gifted of scriptwriters of a movie couldn’t have dreamed up. It began with the 6’5″, 255 lb. lineman winning the Most Valuable Performer Award at the 2022 Bayou Jamb at the beginning of the LHSAA football season.
Then in the regular season opener against General Trass in Lake Providence, Strickland injured his shoulder so severely that doctors told him his season was over. After a second opinion a few weeks later it was determined that he possibly could play football again, just not on the line, where he had been a two-way starter.
As fate would have it, JHHS was having trouble finding a quarterback to run the offense. Having a background of playing QB in Junior High and wanting to keep playing, Strickland approached Blankenship about stepping into the position. That Thursday, the Tiger coaching staff put him through a ten-minute practice session where Strickland did enough to have the coaching staff they would think about it. The next day JHHS was scheduled to play Bunkie and Strickland dressed out for the game with no expectations other than being with the team on the trip. With the Tigers still struggling at the position, it was decided to give Strickland some live action to which he responded by throwing for three touchdowns in the second half of the contest and almost rallying the Tigers to a victory.
Strickland remained the Tigers starting quarterback for three more games until the contest against district foe and eventual state champion Many where he got hurt again. This time it was a dislocation of his kneecap that sent him to the sideline for what would be the remainder of the season and what many thought would be the end of his career.
Through hard work and determination, Strickland fought hard to rehabilitate his knee and shoulder to the point that when invited to visit the Centenary campus in Shreveport he impressed the coaching staff to the point they offered him an opportunity to play on the spot.
The result is that instead of his career coming to an end most tragically, a new beginning is in the offering. All’s well that ends well.
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