Bothell running back playing through

Bothell High School running back Jon Kirchner has endured five staph infections, a hyperextended knee, a groin pull, a high ankle sprain, a chronic burning sensation in his right knee, a sprained foot and ongoing shin splints — all just this year.

Kirchner's injury history could fill a medical journal.

In the eighth grade, he fractured three vertebrae in his lower back, forcing him to wear a body brace for six months. In the ninth grade, he tore the labrum in his hip.

"It is really frustrating, but those injuries that I've gotten in the past have helped me tough out the injuries that I have now," says Kirchner, a junior. "And there's just one more week to go."

That would be the Class 4A state-championship football game — the first in Bothell school history — Saturday against Oak Harbor, another finals newcomer. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Tacoma Dome.

Despite the injuries, the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Kirchner has played in every game this season, gaining a team-best 1,224 yards rushing and scoring 19 touchdowns. He's grown stronger in the postseason, rushing for 505 yards and six TDs in Bothell's four playoff games.

In three of them, he reached 100 or more yards. In all four, he's scored at least once.

"He's been a good running back for us," says Bothell left tackle Bryan Hughes. "He's like a workhorse. He plays through the pain and deals with it."

Kirchner says most of the injuries are no big deal, but the staph infections have been bothersome. Each recurring bout, every two or three weeks, has required him to take a new course of antibiotics.

The staph infections began innocently. During the preseason, Kirchner went to a doctor because he thought his hand was badly swollen. Later that week, he was feverish and in bed, hooked up to intravenous tubes.

At that point, one doctor told Kirchner his football season was probably over, said Jon's father, Eric Kirchner, who hosts a weekend morning radio show on KIRO (710 AM). But the family received a second opinion, and Jon was allowed to play.

Eric Kirchner believes his son was infected on Bothell's home football field, Pop Keeney Stadium, which is shared by the three Northshore School District high schools.

The youngest of three children, Kirchner first saw varsity action in the middle of last season, when senior Matt Marriott broke his ankle. Kirchner said he dedicated himself in the offseason to getting faster — he runs sprints on Bothell's track team — and he won the starting running-back job this year.

The injury bug is the one thing Kirchner hasn't been able to shake. He says he's taken the approach of just trying to make it through to the next week. The last is finally here.

"It's part of football, and I know adrenaline is going to overcome the rest of it, and ibuprofen never hurts," he said. "Especially the point where we're at now. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing to play in a state-championship game, so it's been worth it."

Michael Ko: 206-515-5653 or mko@seattletimes.com