Returning from an injury usually has the expected path. Rehabilitation is followed by those first practices and contests where everything seems a little out of form.

That is unless you're Alex Gordon.

After suffering an ACL injury during football season, the Dublin Scioto High School senior wrestler has stormed back to put himself in position to make another run at a state championship.

At 152 pounds, he was 20-2 and ranked fourth in the annual Brian Brakeman wrestling forecast.

"My goals haven't changed and once I started rehabbing, I kept the same mindset," Gordon said. "It was pretty heartbreaking after being told I couldn't wrestle, but I'm pretty much right back to where I was at this point last year."

A dislocated elbow ended Gordon's season a year ago at the Division I sectional tournament when he was ranked sixth in the state.

He was a state qualifier as a sophomore.

"Watching the district tournament from the stands last year drove him absolutely insane," coach Scott King said. "I knew that if he didn't come back he would be thinking, 'What if,' the rest of his life. With the effort he's made, he knows he's done everything he possibly could. So far, it's turned out for the best."

But the decision to return wasn't an easy one.

Even during his college visit to Ohio University, wrestlers told Gordon he'd never be the same with that type of injury.

Gordon and his parents struggled with the decision and sought a second opinion.

A day before his schedule surgery, Gordon let his coach and teammates know he'd be back.

"In the beginning, I really didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel," Gordon said. "But I got stronger every day. We were originally shooting for me to come back in late-January or early February."

Gordon won his first match during the Dublin City Championships on Dec. 17.

"He's busted his butt and everyday he couldn't be on the mat he was swimming or doing other stuff to stay in shape," King said. "It's very impressive with what he's been able to accomplish. The brace he wears doesn't allow him to get a full range of motion."

Gordon's only losses came at the Top Gun tournament in Alliance on Jan. 15-16. That weekend, he lost to two-time state champion Harrison Hightower of University School 7-2 and the match that followed.

His trip to the state tournament in 2008 ended in the consolation first round when he finished at 39-10.

That year, his brother, Casey, earned a spot on the podium with teammate Randy Languis, who also was a state placer a year ago.

In a sport that heavily emphasizes the postseason, Gordon hopes he's saved his best efforts for last.

"The brace can get in my way, but I can pretty much do most of what I could do before" he said. "I just see being able to wrestle as a blessing and everything that comes after is just extra."

At a glance

Below are the recent results and coming schedules for the Coffman, Scioto and Jerome wrestling teams:

COFFMAN

*Jan. 28 -- Defeated Hilliard Darby 39-28

Last Saturday -- Def. Liberty Township Lakota East 34-27

*Today -- At Worthington Kilbourne

*OCC-Central match

SCIOTO

*Jan. 28 -- Def. Dublin Jerome 51-25

Last Wednesday -- Competed in OCC Super Tri Match at Westerville North

*Today -- At Marysville

Saturday -- At Pemberville Eastwood duals

*OCC-Cardinal match

JEROME

*Jan. 28 -- Lost to Dublin Scioto 51-25

Last Wednesday -- Competed in OCC Super Tri Match at Westerville North

*Today -- At Westerville Central

Saturday -- All-North tournament

*OCC-Cardinal match