Conestoga graduate Mark Herzlich focuses on football as emotions from friends and family swirl at Boston College's opener

CHESTNUT Hill, Mass. - All around Boston College's Alumni Stadium, in every section, fans wore jerseys with the number 94.

"That really, really hit me," Sandy Herzlich said of all the shirts honoring his son. Dad remembers just a couple of years ago, when he hand-crafted No. 94 jerseys for friends and family. "I probably broke every copyright law," he joked.

Mark Herzlich, at the center of it all, understood there was a lot of feeling in the stadium. He was a little surprised, the Conestoga High graduate said, that for him "the emotion didn't stray at all from football."

Herzlich worked to keep Saturday's opener against Weber State about the game. He must have slapped every palm of every Eagles teammate, and he ran first on the field before the kickoff. But he didn't spend any time looking around the place. No tears for him.

"That wouldn't be good," Herzlich joked later after Boston College's 38-20 victory. "Weber would be like, let's go at him."

Officially, the Boston College senior outside linebacker - the Atlantic Coast Conference defensive player of the year in 2008 - started and participated in 31 plays, making five tackles, three solo. Nowhere on the stat sheet did it note that Herzlich was on the field for the first time since an MRI exam in May 2009 revealed a tumor that turned out to be a rare form of bone cancer, Ewing's sarcoma.

Herzlich couldn't think about the chemotherapy and radiation he'd undergone, or the surgery to insert a 12-inch rod that runs from above his knee to his hip. Once, the family had to think about mortality rates. Yesterday was about football, and so much more.

"I had tears," Herzlich's father said as he grilled hot dogs and deluxe "Herzlich burgers" at the postgame tailgate. "I had tears when he first came out, when they played the national anthem, on the first play. But they were tears of joy, not fear or anguish."

Mark Herzlich hadn't even practiced before last week, a stress fracture in his foot setting him back further.

"I overran plays," he said afterward. "A couple of check-downs, I was out of position. To be expected, I guess."

His coaches made sure Herzlich was rested. He usually was out there every other series, and with Weber State in a no-huddle offense, Herzlich was substituted out a couple of times if the defense was on the field too long. This spring, he'd undergone treatment that included the muscles' being ripped off the bone, to get them firing again, as he put it.