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Tough breaks only made Mattes tougher DAVE KONOPKI OPINION

Friday January 02, 2009 | 10:10 AM

It’s a lesson ingrained into the minds of athletes when faced with adversity.

Work hard. Do things the correct way. Never give up. And good things will eventually happen.

Those aren’t just words.

Ask Kurt Mattes.

The former Wyoming Valley West football standout came into the 2008 season with high expectations. Why wouldn’t he? Last season, Mattes started in all 12 games at offensive tackle for Northwestern University and received the team’s Newcomer of the Year Award.

But just a few weeks before the start of the season, adversity reared its ugly head when Mattes suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee during training camp.

The son of Dave and Debbie Mattes of Larksville missed the season-opening win against Syracuse, but returned to the starting lineup in wins against Duke and Southern Illinois.

Just when things appeared to be back to normal, Mattes re-injured the knee against Southern Illinois. After sitting out in wins against Ohio and Iowa, the redshirt junior was ready to return to action.

But his starting job wasn’t his anymore.

“It was very difficult,” said Mattes, a few days before the Wildcats played Missouri in the Alamo Bowl on Monday. “I’d never been hurt before. I fought back as hard as I could, but some guys stepped in and played well. The team has done well, so I’m all for it.”

Little did Mattes know at the time, his perseverance was about to be rewarded.

With 4:25 remaining in the first quarter of the Alamo Bowl, Northwestern tackle Desmond Taylor – who was moved from guard to replace Mattes in the starting lineup – injured a knee.

And Mattes entered the game.

The former high school all-state selection responded with a solid performance, helping lead No. 21-ranked Northwestern to three scoring drives – including two touchdowns – and a 20-16 lead after three quarters.

Taylor returned to play in the fourth quarter, but the Wildcats weren’t able to score again in a 30-23 overtime loss to No. 23-ranked Missouri.

“I thought I played well, especially as the game wore on,” said the 6-foot-6, 305-pound Mattes, following the game. “I always try to stay loose on the sideline, just in case. Once you’re in the game, you want to do anything you can to help your team win. That’s what I was trying to do.”

Mattes will graduate in May with a degree in political science. But before he achieves his goal of someday working for the government, Mattes will attend graduate school in the fall to study public policy and administration.

He’ll also play football for the Wildcats as a fifth-year senior.

And look for him to return to his position in the starting lineup.

“I’m hoping to use my performance (in the Alamo Bowl) as a springboard to next season,” he said. “I’m confident I’ll be back in the starting lineup.”

When he does, it will be because when things got tough, Mattes got tougher.

“It’s been my philosophy through my playing career,” he said. “Some bad things happened to me this year. But I got an opportunity and I took advantage of it.”