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• Local farmer Bruce Fry passionate about his vision for Lodi-Stockton farm zone

• Who made big news in 2008?

• Juan Carlos Lopez Jr. is first born in Lodi for 2009

• Suit settlement, Blue Shield among area's '08 success stories

• Regional Roundup

• Clarification

November 2nd, 2009

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

November 7th, 2009

• Lodi High graduate was at Fort Hood

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• Tour packs buses as birdwatchers admire Sandhill cranes

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• Out of control

• Homicide suspect Anthony Hubbard arraigned

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• New Lodi Memorial rule to combat spread of H1N1: Visitors must be older than 16

November 6th, 2009

• Short sales make up nearly half of Lodi market

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi man accused of smuggling drugs, weapons for inmates at state prison

• 'I-5 Strangler' sentenced to 6 terms of life

• Jury convicts Acampo man of torture, assault of his girlfriend

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November 5th, 2009

• A lower Lodi Lake

• Streetside scarecrows

• San Joaquin County considers moratorium on new Williamson Act contracts

• Speakers address Lodi Unified School District budget shortfalls, plea to keep programs

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• Regional Roundup

• California voters have final say over $11 billion water bond

• Weekend bus service to continue until Lodi City Council makes decision

• Paul Tebbel shines spotlight on sandhill cranes

• Your complete guide to Sandhill Crane Festival

• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy

• Man wanted in Acampo homicide gives up to San Joaquin County Sheriff's detectives

November 4th, 2009

• Candle fire

• Rep. Jerry McNerney sets telephone town hall for Thursday

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi City Council weighs raising fares to restore some bus service

• Galt City Council argues over ordinance hiring residents

• San Joaquin County sues state over prison hospital planned for Stockton

• Big win for Allen Baroni in reclamation election

• California sends Democratic loyalist John Garamendi to Congress

• Bicycling father raising awareness of teen suicide

• Jason Behrmann is unanimously named Galt's city manager

November 3rd, 2009

• 500 attend service for Kyle Coumas

• Correction

• Galt considers ordinance that would require city contractors to hire locally

• Regional Roundup

• Have you seen a missing guide dog puppy in Lodi?

• Galt man dies after weekend Highway 12 crash

• Jason Behrmann is top candidate for Galt city manager

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

• Clarification

November 2nd, 2009

• Downtown Lodi trick or treat

• Public Meetings

• Correction

• Kyle Coumas funeral today

• Regional Roundup

• Sandhill Cranes Festival comes to Lodi next weekend

• Lamborghini lovers gather for show, fine wine, luncheon in Woodbridge

• Lodi's 'Biggest Loser' Christy Richesin runs 5K Halloween race

• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home

• Group investigates reports of haunting

October 31st, 2009

• Area schools have no plans of closing due to H1N1 virus

• Tokay High evacuation

• Gated communities in Lodi

• Finishing touches on Hill House replica

• Regional Roundup

• In remembrance of Kyle Coumas

• Lodi-area Halloween events

• City of Lodi settles case of mistaken identity

• Lodi a reflection of Halloween's retail emergence

• Izzy Laviola and Seth Siddle-Mitchell crowned Tokay homecoming queen and king

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Lodi senior Justin Kah overcomes head injury, excels in senior season

His head spinning in a daze, Justin Kah stood traumatized.

Next to him, on the ground, lay his teammate, Gage Miller. After a head-to-head, full-speed collision with Kah, Miller was down and the 6-foot-2, 250-pound Kah remained standing.

Coaches and players sprinted to them, their mouths agape as they stared in disbelief.

As Kah, a current Lodi High senior who was a junior at the time, lifted his hand to his face, he felt warm liquid gushing down. He knew something wasn't right.

He went to feel his nose but it wasn't there.

Flooded with adrenaline and in shock, Kah somehow remained calm. Lodi head football coach Todd Dillon couldn't.

"His face was indented, to say the least. His nose was flat and over on his cheek," Dillon said recalling the hit that came during a pads-free practice in August 2007, just prior to the start of the season. "Justin didn't go down. He simply asked 'What does it look like?' I think he was reading the looks on our faces."

Kah's face was crushed. His forehead was cracked, which allowed air to get to his brain. His sinuses were destroyed. Both eye orbitals were shattered. His nose was broken in three places and displaced.

The hit demolished Kah's face, but his love for football never wavered.

An ambulance ride.

Surgery.

A long and painful recovery.

A nose that couldn't smell ... a tongue that couldn't taste ... a swollen head.

Nothing couldn't prohibit him from returning to the gridiron.

Kah battled his way back, making for a story not even doctors could believe.

The hit's impact

After the hit, doctors feared Kah would have brain damage. They didn't know if he would ever be the same. They feared his sight could be in jeopardy. After a CAT scan showed the damage, they knew surgery was necessary.

Needing to repair Kah's cracked forehead and prevent any more air from harming his brain, the doctors, with help of a plastic surgeon, dissected Kah's face. Making a cut across his skull from ear to ear, they peeled his skin down from the top of his head all the way to his nose.

They inserted a titanium plate slightly smaller than the bottom of a soda can in his forehead. They placed his nose back in the middle of his face. Then they stretched his skin back and sewed it up with one long piece of thread that made his head look like a swollen, bruised baseball.

Lodi senior Justin Kah stared on the offensive and defensive lines for the Flames this season, earning all-league honors on defense. (Jerry R. Tyson/News-Sentinel)

While his face was mashed, somehow Kah's brain was left unharmed.

"The doctors said that it could have killed him if there would have been brain damage," said Kah's father, Pastor John Kah.

But there was no brain damage. Not even a concussion.

"It was more cosmetic. It could have been life-threatening," Justin Kah said. "... I was just really blessed because the surgery was just trying to make me look the same." Going into the 2007 season, Kah, who had just moved from Chicago to Lodi in the middle of his sophomore year, was still finding his place as the new guy at school. Despite being new to the Flames, not a day went by when Lodi coaches and players didn't come to visit Kah during his recovery, which included three weeks of staying home from school.

Even Miller, who was on the other end of the collision, came to see Kah. Miller walked away from the hit uninjured, but not free of guilt.

"I went over to his house after he got out of the hospital and visited him and he forgave me and said it was an accident," Miller said.

Kah never blamed Miller and was happy to see him after the accident.

"He was pretty scared and I got up and gave him a big hug and just made sure he was fine," Kah said.

Outside of a long recovery for his facial fractures, Kah's only other setback was the loss of his sense of smell and taste. Doctors weren't sure if he would ever regain the senses, but after a few months and a tasteless Thanksgiving, they returned.

Return to action

Such a hit could easily end a person's life, let alone their football career.

Not Kah.

He was back on the field that same season and played in the last five games of his junior year.

With his head still swollen, a condition that lasted an entire year after the hit, Kah just needed an extra large helmet instead of his usual large. While the doctors said Kah probably shouldn't play football, they couldn't stop him.

So he returned the field, but not without reservation. He was scared.

His mother, Donna, was terrified. She was sitting alone in the bleachers during his first game back. She couldn't talk to anyone.

She just there biting her nails and praying.

Kah saw little playing time in that first game as Dillon eased him back into action by sending him in for one play and then bringing him back to the bench. After a while he went in for another play, and then back out. That gave Donna some comfort, but most of her solace came from her faith.

"Oh, it was nerve-racking, but he wanted to do it and I felt like he was in God's hands so I felt like it was OK," she said.

Kah had combated his fear, but he still wasn't the player that he once was.

All he needed was time.

In the 2008 season, he arose as a leader for the Flames. On the offensive line, he opened holes for Lodi's dominant running game. On defense, he made 35 tackles and recorded one sack on his way to being named the San Joaquin Athletic Association Defensive Lineman of the Year.

"He was the type of player you wish every player would be. He played with passion," Dillon said. "He didn't worry about the circumstances but played every play as though it was a gift."

To Kah, every play was a gift.

"I realized that it could end at any second. I had to be thankful for every game. ... I just have to go my hardest," he said. "I didn't really worry about getting injured because it's already happened. I already had to go through it. So I just try to get out there an knock some guys around."

The road ahead

While Kah's days as a Flame football player are over, he's still debating if he wants to continue playing. He is currently applying to schools like University of The Pacific, UCLA, UC Davis and some private schools in Colorado and Texas. Regardless of if he plays football, his full schedule of advanced placement classes and 3.8 grade point average should make his application looking appealing to schools.

Kah played one more game on Saturday, Dec. 27 as he was selected for the KCRA All-Star football game at Grant High School. He suited up, strapped on his helmet and took on the best players in the area, not letting the hit he took at the start of his junior year rearrange his life — even if for a short while it rearranged his face.

"I hit people and every once and a while it hurts, but not too bad," he said.

A semicircle scar from ear to ear as well as occasional headaches are the only remnants of the hit Kah took a year-and-a-half ago.

He's also left with a new outlook on life and an appreciation for how everything tastes and smells a little bit better.