Senior Cayden Foreman (left) stands with his brother, sophomore Carter Foreman, inside the new competition gym at Kent Roosevelt High School. Cayden tore his left labrum during the fourth game of the football season and Carter tore his ACL for the second straight season in game two of the season.
Tom Nader/Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Carter and Cayden Foreman are two brothers that like to do everything together.

Play sports, train and hang out.

That is the fun stuff.

Unfortunately right now, the siblings are on the other side of things as they both are on the injured list and rehabbing serious injuries.

Their season of dreams has come to a crashing halt.

It had always been their dream to play a football season together.

It had always been their dream to play a basketball season together.

The first chance to play football together, back in 2021, was immediately stopped when Carter tore his ACL on the first game of the Kent Roosevelt junior varsity football season. As the Riders’ quarterback, Carter had rolled right and was tackled from behind and it trapped his knee under him on the turf for an awkward landing.

That injury wiped out the duo taking the court together for the 2021-22 basketball season.

As the fall of 2022 rolled around, another chance to play football together lasted just two games.

In the second game of the season, Carter, now a sophomore, tore the ACL in the same knee when he got rolled up on after a tackle.

Senior Cayden Foreman (left) and sophomore Carter Foreman.
Tom Nader/Portage Sports

Two games later, Cayden, a senior, was sidelined when he tore the labrum in his left arm when he popped off a run block, then went in for a tackle on the ball-carrier and his arm got twisted up in the pile.

Carter had surgery on Sept. 22 and is out for the entire 2022-23 basketball season.

The same looked to be the case for Cayden, but he is not ready to go all the way there yet. He was recently fitted for a full upper-body brace that may allow him to play this season before having surgery to repair his injury in the spring. He is limited in his strength and flexibility with the arm, but he has spent the last few days testing what his body can allow and how that might be a help to his Rough Riders teammates he so desperately wants to take the court with.

“I don’t know yet what I will be able to do, but I want to give basketball the best shot possible,” Cayden said.

Craig Foreman, dad and head coach of the Roosevelt girls basketball team, has found reasons to smile amidst the disappointment of lost seasons for his sons that they won’t get back.

“This is where sports can really be awesome,” Craig Foreman said. “Look, as a dad, of course it is terrible to watch them go through this and miss seasons. At the end of the day, though, they are probably stronger in dealing with this than I am. They have to persevere and they see the big picture. Pushing through this kind of adversity will make them stronger men. They have been put up against a lot of things that are not fair. We all know life is not fair sometimes.

“Carter and Cayden have been best friends since they were kids so the fact that they are doing this thing together is something that makes me smile a little bit,” Craig Foreman said.

The smiles watching them compete were limited to two games.

Carter Foreman (13) stands behind brother Cayden Foreman during a early season football game for Kent Roosevelt.
Special to Portage Sports

For those two games, though, the dream existed.

Carter at weakside linebacker.

Cayden at strong safety.

They have the pictures that captured the memory. Both in the same frame together.

Red jerseys with Carter’s white No. 13 and Cayden’s No. 7 outlined in black.

To those that didn’t know, just two Rough Riders playing football.

For those that knew more it was two brothers.

Playing together just as they imagined it to be.

Kent Roosevelt sophomore Carter Foreman (center) and senior Cayden Foreman await a snap during an early season game this year for the Rough Riders.
Special to Portage Sports