JACKSON TWP — The pain in Connor Coward’s back was so debilitating he had trouble doing even the most basic things.

“It took a long, long time to just get the pain under control enough to do everyday normal activities like going to school,” Coward said.

Pitching was the last thing on his mind during these dark days. The Seneca Valley senior worked arduously with doctors and physical therapists to strengthen his injured back and relieve the constant ache emanating from it.

Through it all, the worst part for Coward was watching his Seneca Valley baseball teammates play without him — and struggle mightily.

“I was bummed about it,” the 6-foot senior right-hander said. “They were bummed about it. It was one of the most frustrating things to have to sit back and watch.”

He refrains from going into much detail about the nature of the injury, calling it a sensitive subject.

It’s all moot now. Coward’s back is back, the problem that caused his pain solved, as Seneca Valley prepares to take on DuBois Area in the PIAA quad-A quarterfinals at 3 p.m. Thursday at Slippery Rock University.

At mid-season, though, with the Raiders falling out of the WPIAL quad-A playoff race, Seneca Valley coach Eric Semega had all but resigned himself and his team to their fate.

He wasn’t getting his ace pitcher back. Coward’s electric right arm that had earned him a scholarship to Division I Virginia Tech and had led Seneca Valley to the WPIAL championship game in 2013 was lost in 2014.

“We were prepared for that,” Semega said. “It was all but solidified that he wasn’t coming back at all.”

But Coward kept showing up to the field with increasingly positive reports. The pain was subsiding. He was feeling better with each passing day.

Then he began throwing again.

Suddenly, it seemed Coward was going to be able to return after all. The only question became: Would there be a season to return to?

Seneca Valley needed a win in its final section contest against Fox Chapel to sneak into the postseason. The Raiders gutted out a 4-1 win over the Foxes.

“Once we made the playoffs, we began to think, ‘Maybe he can be available for the second playoff game,’” Semega said.

It turned out the terrible weather this spring came to Seneca Valley’s aid.

The Raiders’ first-round WPIAL game against Hempfield was pushed back from Tuesday to Friday because of rain. That gave Coward a chance to throw a bullpen session on Wednesday and get the green light to pitch again.

Seneca Valley didn’t need him to knock off the No. 1 seeded Spartans. But having Coward in their back pocket rejuvenated the Raiders (11-11).

And led them on a ride that has included a WPIAL championship and a state playoff win.

Coward has three playoff victories already. In his first outing, the day after the win against Hempfield, he tossed a gem, shutting out Shaler 3-0.

“I was most worried about if I didn’t have it right away, I won’t have a chance to work my way out of it. There was nothing to fall back on. We were one-and-done,” Coward said. “I just stood out there on the mound and thought this is where I was last year. It all just kind of came back to me.”

Semega said Coward’s velocity isn’t quite where it was at this time a season ago when he was routinely hitting the low 90s with his fastball. It’s sitting at 85-88 now, but he’s had excellent command.

Throw in a dominant curveball and Coward is every bit the stopper he was as a junior.

“Not bad considering he hadn’t thrown in three months,” Semega said. “Right now, he’s well-conditioned. It’s still early in the season for him. He’s coming around.”

And so is his team.

Semega has been asked several times during the WPIAL run what the major difference was between the team that scuffled so much during the regular season and the one that has rolled seemingly unstoppable through a gauntlet of teams with better records in the playoffs.

He had no easy answer until he posed that same question to his team Tuesday.

The response startled him.

“They said, ‘Getting Connor back.’”

Coward’s return ignited confidence that had been dormant in his teammates for nearly two months.

He gave them hope.

Coward said he is extremely humbled that his teammates hold him in such high regard.

He also said he hasn’t done it alone.

“I’m just a small part of it,” Coward said. “We’re playing the best baseball I’ve ever seen us play. We’re finally coming together. We’re hitting the ball well, we’re pitching well, we’re catching the ball well. I think it was we just really needed to prove something.”