BRYSON CITY — Swain County football's James Loftis had a board with magnets for every NFL team. At 4 years old, Loftis could accurately place each team in its correct division.
He didn't just know the teams. He had players he wanted to emulate.
Tim Tebow and Ben Roethlisberger became two of the quarterbacks he idolized as they won national championships and Super Bowls.
“That's what drove me to football," Loftis said. "They were inspiring and how they cared for their team. That's what I really wanted to do."
As he got older, Loftis would go outside, throw the football to himself and imagine he had just caught the game-winning touchdown.
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Those moments outside were the only way Loftis could play football for a long time.
Loftis was born with metopic suture craniosynostosis, a condition where the joint down the middle of a baby's forehead fuses too early. He underwent skull reconstruction surgery at 6 months old, when surgeons rebuilt his forehead, eye sockets and the bridge of his nose.
Football remained a huge part of his life, even though he couldn't play it. He watched the Gators and Steelers every weekend, played fantasy football and Madden, and threw football in the backyard.
"It was something I always wanted to do," Loftis said. "I didn't think I was ever going to get to play. But I thought about coaching, going to college to be an announcer."
His closest friends all played football, and Loftis eventually watched them succeed at Swain County.
But he still went to nearly every game and celebrated with his friends on the field after victories.
His friends won the Smoky Mountain Conference championship as JV players. A year later, in their first varsity season, they went 6-5 and reached the second round of the NCHSAA 2A playoffs.
"I was like, this doesn't feel right," Loftis said. "Me being a sophomore, not being able to play a sport I wanted to play my whole life without my best friends."
Loftis knew he had surgery on his head shortly after he was born, but he didn't learn what the procedure was or why it kept him from playing football until he was older.
"While he was aware of that, it didn't keep him from asking me literally every fall if that could be changed," his mother, Lisa Loftis, said.
That changed after he was involved in an ATV accident in summer of 2025. ER doctors took CT scans because he needed stitches on his head.
"I thought to myself, there's no better time than right now to take these new scans," Lisa said. "He hadn't had those in 15-16 years and take them back to the original doctor."
She took them back to Duke. The doctor there didn't feel comfortable clearing him for football. But they sought a second opinion at Atrium Baptist in Winston-Salem, where Loftis received the go-ahead to play last December.
Loftis' first thought wasn't about what position he would play or how many snaps he might get. It was about his friends.
"I was like, we're going for a state championship," Loftis said. "That's what we're going for."
First-year Swain County coach Scott Riley placed him at wide receiver and defensive back, where he became a starter quickly.
Riley said Loftis never missed a practice or offseason workout all spring and summer. His athleticism and intelligence have helped Loftis develop fast.
"I always forget it's his first time playing football because he doesn't approach it that way," Riley said. "If he is scared or nervous, it hasn't showed."
The fact that Loftis was about to play his first game didn't sink in until Aug. 17, the Monday before Swain County's Week 1 game against Smoky Mountain on Aug. 21.
"I was like, this is actually coming true," he said. "Friday night is gonna be the first game I've ever played."
The game didn't go the way the Maroon Devils had hoped. Smoky Mountain rolled to a 42-6 win.
But Loftis said it was a dream come true.
For his mother, seeing him finally take the field carried a different weight.
"I'm proud of him for putting in the time, putting in the effort, never giving up on his dream to be able to play," Lisa said. "Proud he never gave up asking me about it because his persistence is what led me to get that 2nd opinion."
Zachary Huber is a high school sports reporter for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him at zhuber@gannett.com or follow him on X @zacharyahuber.
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This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: How skull surgery kept Swain County's James Loftis from football — until now
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