Futbollers find place on football field
Soccer players do double duty as kickers under Friday night lights
By Chris Walker
Andre Casas didn’t play soccer at Oswego East during his freshman season, but for the past two years the junior has doubled up, kicking on Friday nights for the football team and playing forward for the soccer squad.
“I love both so it’s hard to say which one I like best,” he said. “On an emotional level, I like soccer better, but it’s hard to get a scholarship through soccer. It’s easier to do it through football so I’m going to try.”
Casas nailed a 44-yard field goal last year and connected on a 40-yarder against Plainfield Central this season. He said he kicked a 54-yarder in practice and has the video to prove it.
“It’s hard work, and I’m just really blessed to be able to do both,” he said. “On Friday nights I’ll be up until midnight and then have to get up early on Saturdays for soccer. I do a lot of preparation before and during the season, and my coaches are very flexible. You need to have good communication from them. and so far I haven’t had any problems.”
Casas enjoyed a winning fall. Both teams finished second in conference.
The soccer team went 14-6-2. The Wolves football team ended its season 7-3-0. They finished in a three-way tie for second in the Southwest Prairie Conference and fell in the opening round of the Class 8A playoffs.
Casas finished the soccer season with four goals and 11 assists. He had futbol company on the football field. He was joined by soccer teamate Eric Montano, who was the back-up kicker. Sophomore Jamie Portillo is looking to replace Casas once he graduates.
“I definitely plan on training Jaime,” he said. “I will need to pass the torch to someone.”
Two-sport and three-sport athletes are nothing new. But four-sport athletes? That's a different story.
Danville graduate Caleb Griffin, who is now playing football for the University of Illinois BB, played baseball, basketball, football and soccer.
While few high school athletes will ever duplicate Griffin’s athletic accomplishments, experts recommend that kids don’t specialize on one sport but enjoy a number of them throughout the season.
Playing two sports during the same sports season remains rare and some aren’t afforded the opportunity of tackling such a challenge.
In the DuPage Valley Conference, for example, you won’t see any soccer players in a football uniform, because it’s against the rules. With as talented as the conference has been in soccer over the years, one has to wonder how many futbol players could have also helped their school win football games on Friday nights.
One has to wonder if former-DVC school Wheaton Warrenville South would’ve had Jack Olsen on its roster this fall if not for his extremely bright future as a kicker.
Even if Olsen wanted to play both sports, he wouldn’t have been able to do so because of the DVC rules. It’s unknown if the same rule applies in the DuKane Conference.
A few coaches weren’t even sure.
What is known is that there are no such athletes doing such in the aforementioned two conferences. Interestingly, longtime Tigers soccer coach Guy Callipari coached Olsen’s dad at Wheaton Warrenville South.
Kaneland doesn’t have athletes playing both sports simultaneously this year, but Brian Bartholomew did it last fall at the Maple Park school which is known for athletes that can multi-task at a high level. Bartholomew followed after guys like Drew Franklin, Chad Swieca and Chris Ott among others.
Neighboring Yorkville noted a similar trend, although they didn’t feature such a player this year. Last year, Cole Riebe did both, but is playing only football this year. Cade Henry had done it for two years, but has focused solely on football the past two seasons for the Foxes (8-2-0) who won their opening playoff game in Class 6A.
“The sports are a lot different,” Bartholomew said. “With soccer you’ve got 80 minutes, and it’s a game of freedom where you never know what’s going to happen with non-stop action. Football’s pace is different, and I’m standing there cold just waiting. In soccer, I’m hot running around all game.”
These days, guys like Bartholomew, Casas and others are rare.
Last year, Sam Rutherford was a senior at New Trier and considering playing football in college.
He had joined the football team during his junior year after the team sought out the soccer team looking for a kicker.
“They came to the soccer program as a whole,” Rutherford said. “It was in the summer after soccer camp and some of the guys kicked for them. They talked to a couple of the guys, but I was the only one into it.”
Rutherford had an unforgettable junior year. The Trevians won a regional title in soccer and a playoff game in football. The biggest moment had to be beating Maine South in the Central Suburban League South Division regular season and breaking Maine South’s unfathomable 16-year, 77-game conference winning streak.
Unfortunately, his senior year didn’t go so well. Patellar tendinitis was the main culprit.
“I was a little off with the injury and was going and back and forth with the two sports so it was hard to stay focused,” he said. “I left the football team about halfway through, and our football coach understood.”
Quitting football wasn’t the easiest decision, but one that Rutherford felt best served him in the long run. He considered playing in college by attended camps all over the Midwest, but chose to walk away. As the goalkeeper on the soccer pitch, he was a three-year varsity player and a captain senior year.
“I was getting pretty serious about football, but I think I did what was best. And it kind of worked out pretty well,” he said. “Junior year was a great year, and it worked out perfectly. We beat Maine South and had a lot of stuff go right for both programs, and I got to be a part of both. Senior year was different. I was a little off, and I think the other people involved saw how stressful it was and felt it worked out best the way it did.”
Rutherford is now at Butler. Though not currently involved in a spot, he’s considered getting involved with club soccer at some point. He has no regrets with what he was able to do at New Trier and looks upon the recent past as a positive overall experience.
“It was a lot to deal with so I made sure everyone on the soccer team was on board with it,” he said. “If someone considers doing what I did, I’d say do it. It was a very cool thing for me. We have such a good culture at my school so it was fun to be a part of it.”
Glenbard South’s soccer season came to an abrupt ending in the Class AA St. Francis Regional semifinals, but senior Spencer Pyle saw his fall season extended when the Raiders football team made the Class 6A playofs. They fell in the first round to Boylan.
Pyle scored 20 goals and 6 assists to pace the Raiders during the soccer season.
“The football coach texted me saying there were rumors of (my interest) around the school. Somehow he found out,” Pyle said. “After he saw me kick, he asked if I’d like to kick for them.”
Pyle also joined the team as a tribute to his father. The youngest of seven kids, Pyle lost his father in late 2015 during his freshman year.
“I was just 15 when my dad passed away, and he used to play football,” he said. “So I thought it would be cool to play for football like him. I think he would’ve enjoyed seeing me do that.”
At first, Pyle struggled in adjusting to his new double duty last season.
“It wasn’t pretty,” he said. “I wasn’t as good then as I am now. But I got some training, because I was definitely winging it last year. It wasn’t too hard to get used to this. I definitely have improved, and there’s a guy who was worked with me on the game.”
The Raiders squeaded into the playoffs with a 5-4 record. A thrilling 35-34 victory over Larkin on Sept. 21 was one of their big victories. Pyle converted his PATs and nailed a pair of field goals in the win; the Larkin kicker missed a PAT late.
“It’s been a big change,” he said. “I’m used to being one of the top guys on the soccer field. With football it’s a change of pace where you rarely see the field and don’t get really big moments or if you do it’s once every few games. So it’s definitely been a different experience.”
It’s also allowed him to play under the lights in front of huge crowds on Friday nights, something that only football players truly get to experience compared to the other high school athletes.
“The crowds, hanging out with the guys and the locker room moments, I can’t replicate that with another team,” he said. “I’m glad I did it. The coaches understand my schedule and know that sometimes it’s tough because I’m tired and have to go. But they’ve all been super nice, and it’s a fun experience.”
St. Ignatius senior Keenan Troy’s story is one of the funnier ones. He was at soccer practice earlier this year when a couple of his friends, who are football players, were razzing him about not being a “real” athlete by playing soccer instead of football.
Troy decided he needed to teach his colleagues a little something about how athletic he truly is so he kicked a few balls in front of him.
“I was just messing around but then the football coach asked if I wanted to try to do that for them this year,” he said. “I told him that soccer was going to be my priority, but I would practice for both. He was OK with that.”
Prior to this fall the only football Troy had ever played was during recess in grade school.
On Friday he kicked a PATm but the Wolfpack fell a touchdown short of Notre Dame in a first-round playoff game in Niles.
The transition has coming seemingly naturally for Troy.
“If anything it’s kind of giving me something else to look forward to at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s pretty much a simple concept in terms of soccer and just kicking it. I think it’s been a positive experience and another chance to display the talent.”
Of course, adjusting from running around non-stop to standing patiently and waiting for your number to be called is a much different way of playing a game.
“I’m used to being engaged in the game running around,” he said. “Now for the most part I’m waiting for my chance and you might not fully have your chance. It’s different because now in football, depending on how the game unfolds, you can be put on the spot.”
He certainly put his buddies, or rather his new teammates, on the spot.
“I think my big thing as a soccer player was being able to go over there and participate in their (football) sport and show them I can do both,” he said. “I think they definitely have more respect now for what I do in soccer and how it translates over. Of course, they’re still giving me crap about being on the wrong side of the field during practice.”
St. Rita sophomore Logan Corum starts on the varsity soccer team and kicks for the sophomore football team. He will probably also be kicking for varsity as the next, perhaps, in a long line of tremendous kickers in program history. Head football coach Todd Kuska has helped developed six of his kickers into Division I players, and he’ll undoubtedly have a seventh one after senior Gavin Mottie graduates.
“Well, Gavin has preferred walk-on offers at Notre Dame and Wisconsin, so he’s big-time,” Corum said. “He’s great. I’ve worked with him some, and he’s given me some helpful pointers.”
Corum recalls playing flag football in middle school, but even then he wasn’t the kicker.
“It’s funny, but I don’t know why I wasn’t kicking then,” he said. “It wasn’t until I got to my freshman year and showed up for a game to watch them, because we had a soccer game a few hours after it.
“The kicker was kicking some extra points, and he hit two offensive linemen in the back of the head. And the freshman team was good, but they didn’t have a kicker. A security guard, Jim, saw me with my soccer jersey and asked me to do it.”
A few weeks later Corum was kicking for the Mustangs.
“I had to figure out a system to work with both coaches, and I would kick right after school for 15 minutes and then go to soccer practice,” he said. “The kicking just came naturally. I walked on the field, and my dad placed the ball down, and I kicked extra points so smoothly that I thought maybe I could actually do this. And now, wow, it’s crazy.”
As much as he likes his new sport, soccer will remain Corum’s top priority.
“My football and soccer coaches have been extremely supportive of me,” he said. “We lost a tough regional (soccer) to Oak Forest. I told my football coach I wasn’t sure I would make the game because of soccer, ... he said to not worry about it.”
Corum, a right midfielder as well as a forward at times during soccer, made 29-of-30 PATs and all three of his field goal attempts on the gridiron.
“The accuracy and motion I have is just in the mind, just like in soccer,” he said. “I began playing soccer when I was only five years old so I know the motions and just know what to do. When I kick a penalty I go three back and two to the left just like in football, except I hit the ball differently.”
Shepard senior Michal Strama and Homewood-Flossmoor sophomore Ethan Lindquist are two other players who are playing soccer and kicking for their school’s football teams this fall.
There are also at least two dual-duty athletes who are especially unique -- girls kicking for their football teams who play soccer in the spring. Tinley Park senior Sam Tuuk and Crete-Monee senior Grace Miller don’t have the extra busy schedule of their male counterparts, but they can also say they play both kinds of football.
Soccer players do double duty as kickers under Friday night lights
By Chris Walker
Andre Casas didn’t play soccer at Oswego East during his freshman season, but for the past two years the junior has doubled up, kicking on Friday nights for the football team and playing forward for the soccer squad.
“I love both so it’s hard to say which one I like best,” he said. “On an emotional level, I like soccer better, but it’s hard to get a scholarship through soccer. It’s easier to do it through football so I’m going to try.”
Casas nailed a 44-yard field goal last year and connected on a 40-yarder against Plainfield Central this season. He said he kicked a 54-yarder in practice and has the video to prove it.
“It’s hard work, and I’m just really blessed to be able to do both,” he said. “On Friday nights I’ll be up until midnight and then have to get up early on Saturdays for soccer. I do a lot of preparation before and during the season, and my coaches are very flexible. You need to have good communication from them. and so far I haven’t had any problems.”
Casas enjoyed a winning fall. Both teams finished second in conference.
The soccer team went 14-6-2. The Wolves football team ended its season 7-3-0. They finished in a three-way tie for second in the Southwest Prairie Conference and fell in the opening round of the Class 8A playoffs.
Casas finished the soccer season with four goals and 11 assists. He had futbol company on the football field. He was joined by soccer teamate Eric Montano, who was the back-up kicker. Sophomore Jamie Portillo is looking to replace Casas once he graduates.
“I definitely plan on training Jaime,” he said. “I will need to pass the torch to someone.”
Two-sport and three-sport athletes are nothing new. But four-sport athletes? That's a different story.
Danville graduate Caleb Griffin, who is now playing football for the University of Illinois BB, played baseball, basketball, football and soccer.
While few high school athletes will ever duplicate Griffin’s athletic accomplishments, experts recommend that kids don’t specialize on one sport but enjoy a number of them throughout the season.
Playing two sports during the same sports season remains rare and some aren’t afforded the opportunity of tackling such a challenge.
In the DuPage Valley Conference, for example, you won’t see any soccer players in a football uniform, because it’s against the rules. With as talented as the conference has been in soccer over the years, one has to wonder how many futbol players could have also helped their school win football games on Friday nights.
One has to wonder if former-DVC school Wheaton Warrenville South would’ve had Jack Olsen on its roster this fall if not for his extremely bright future as a kicker.
Even if Olsen wanted to play both sports, he wouldn’t have been able to do so because of the DVC rules. It’s unknown if the same rule applies in the DuKane Conference.
A few coaches weren’t even sure.
What is known is that there are no such athletes doing such in the aforementioned two conferences. Interestingly, longtime Tigers soccer coach Guy Callipari coached Olsen’s dad at Wheaton Warrenville South.
Kaneland doesn’t have athletes playing both sports simultaneously this year, but Brian Bartholomew did it last fall at the Maple Park school which is known for athletes that can multi-task at a high level. Bartholomew followed after guys like Drew Franklin, Chad Swieca and Chris Ott among others.
Neighboring Yorkville noted a similar trend, although they didn’t feature such a player this year. Last year, Cole Riebe did both, but is playing only football this year. Cade Henry had done it for two years, but has focused solely on football the past two seasons for the Foxes (8-2-0) who won their opening playoff game in Class 6A.
“The sports are a lot different,” Bartholomew said. “With soccer you’ve got 80 minutes, and it’s a game of freedom where you never know what’s going to happen with non-stop action. Football’s pace is different, and I’m standing there cold just waiting. In soccer, I’m hot running around all game.”
These days, guys like Bartholomew, Casas and others are rare.
Last year, Sam Rutherford was a senior at New Trier and considering playing football in college.
He had joined the football team during his junior year after the team sought out the soccer team looking for a kicker.
“They came to the soccer program as a whole,” Rutherford said. “It was in the summer after soccer camp and some of the guys kicked for them. They talked to a couple of the guys, but I was the only one into it.”
Rutherford had an unforgettable junior year. The Trevians won a regional title in soccer and a playoff game in football. The biggest moment had to be beating Maine South in the Central Suburban League South Division regular season and breaking Maine South’s unfathomable 16-year, 77-game conference winning streak.
Unfortunately, his senior year didn’t go so well. Patellar tendinitis was the main culprit.
“I was a little off with the injury and was going and back and forth with the two sports so it was hard to stay focused,” he said. “I left the football team about halfway through, and our football coach understood.”
Quitting football wasn’t the easiest decision, but one that Rutherford felt best served him in the long run. He considered playing in college by attended camps all over the Midwest, but chose to walk away. As the goalkeeper on the soccer pitch, he was a three-year varsity player and a captain senior year.
“I was getting pretty serious about football, but I think I did what was best. And it kind of worked out pretty well,” he said. “Junior year was a great year, and it worked out perfectly. We beat Maine South and had a lot of stuff go right for both programs, and I got to be a part of both. Senior year was different. I was a little off, and I think the other people involved saw how stressful it was and felt it worked out best the way it did.”
Rutherford is now at Butler. Though not currently involved in a spot, he’s considered getting involved with club soccer at some point. He has no regrets with what he was able to do at New Trier and looks upon the recent past as a positive overall experience.
“It was a lot to deal with so I made sure everyone on the soccer team was on board with it,” he said. “If someone considers doing what I did, I’d say do it. It was a very cool thing for me. We have such a good culture at my school so it was fun to be a part of it.”
Glenbard South’s soccer season came to an abrupt ending in the Class AA St. Francis Regional semifinals, but senior Spencer Pyle saw his fall season extended when the Raiders football team made the Class 6A playofs. They fell in the first round to Boylan.
Pyle scored 20 goals and 6 assists to pace the Raiders during the soccer season.
“The football coach texted me saying there were rumors of (my interest) around the school. Somehow he found out,” Pyle said. “After he saw me kick, he asked if I’d like to kick for them.”
Pyle also joined the team as a tribute to his father. The youngest of seven kids, Pyle lost his father in late 2015 during his freshman year.
“I was just 15 when my dad passed away, and he used to play football,” he said. “So I thought it would be cool to play for football like him. I think he would’ve enjoyed seeing me do that.”
At first, Pyle struggled in adjusting to his new double duty last season.
“It wasn’t pretty,” he said. “I wasn’t as good then as I am now. But I got some training, because I was definitely winging it last year. It wasn’t too hard to get used to this. I definitely have improved, and there’s a guy who was worked with me on the game.”
The Raiders squeaded into the playoffs with a 5-4 record. A thrilling 35-34 victory over Larkin on Sept. 21 was one of their big victories. Pyle converted his PATs and nailed a pair of field goals in the win; the Larkin kicker missed a PAT late.
“It’s been a big change,” he said. “I’m used to being one of the top guys on the soccer field. With football it’s a change of pace where you rarely see the field and don’t get really big moments or if you do it’s once every few games. So it’s definitely been a different experience.”
It’s also allowed him to play under the lights in front of huge crowds on Friday nights, something that only football players truly get to experience compared to the other high school athletes.
“The crowds, hanging out with the guys and the locker room moments, I can’t replicate that with another team,” he said. “I’m glad I did it. The coaches understand my schedule and know that sometimes it’s tough because I’m tired and have to go. But they’ve all been super nice, and it’s a fun experience.”
St. Ignatius senior Keenan Troy’s story is one of the funnier ones. He was at soccer practice earlier this year when a couple of his friends, who are football players, were razzing him about not being a “real” athlete by playing soccer instead of football.
Troy decided he needed to teach his colleagues a little something about how athletic he truly is so he kicked a few balls in front of him.
“I was just messing around but then the football coach asked if I wanted to try to do that for them this year,” he said. “I told him that soccer was going to be my priority, but I would practice for both. He was OK with that.”
Prior to this fall the only football Troy had ever played was during recess in grade school.
On Friday he kicked a PATm but the Wolfpack fell a touchdown short of Notre Dame in a first-round playoff game in Niles.
The transition has coming seemingly naturally for Troy.
“If anything it’s kind of giving me something else to look forward to at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s pretty much a simple concept in terms of soccer and just kicking it. I think it’s been a positive experience and another chance to display the talent.”
Of course, adjusting from running around non-stop to standing patiently and waiting for your number to be called is a much different way of playing a game.
“I’m used to being engaged in the game running around,” he said. “Now for the most part I’m waiting for my chance and you might not fully have your chance. It’s different because now in football, depending on how the game unfolds, you can be put on the spot.”
He certainly put his buddies, or rather his new teammates, on the spot.
“I think my big thing as a soccer player was being able to go over there and participate in their (football) sport and show them I can do both,” he said. “I think they definitely have more respect now for what I do in soccer and how it translates over. Of course, they’re still giving me crap about being on the wrong side of the field during practice.”
St. Rita sophomore Logan Corum starts on the varsity soccer team and kicks for the sophomore football team. He will probably also be kicking for varsity as the next, perhaps, in a long line of tremendous kickers in program history. Head football coach Todd Kuska has helped developed six of his kickers into Division I players, and he’ll undoubtedly have a seventh one after senior Gavin Mottie graduates.
“Well, Gavin has preferred walk-on offers at Notre Dame and Wisconsin, so he’s big-time,” Corum said. “He’s great. I’ve worked with him some, and he’s given me some helpful pointers.”
Corum recalls playing flag football in middle school, but even then he wasn’t the kicker.
“It’s funny, but I don’t know why I wasn’t kicking then,” he said. “It wasn’t until I got to my freshman year and showed up for a game to watch them, because we had a soccer game a few hours after it.
“The kicker was kicking some extra points, and he hit two offensive linemen in the back of the head. And the freshman team was good, but they didn’t have a kicker. A security guard, Jim, saw me with my soccer jersey and asked me to do it.”
A few weeks later Corum was kicking for the Mustangs.
“I had to figure out a system to work with both coaches, and I would kick right after school for 15 minutes and then go to soccer practice,” he said. “The kicking just came naturally. I walked on the field, and my dad placed the ball down, and I kicked extra points so smoothly that I thought maybe I could actually do this. And now, wow, it’s crazy.”
As much as he likes his new sport, soccer will remain Corum’s top priority.
“My football and soccer coaches have been extremely supportive of me,” he said. “We lost a tough regional (soccer) to Oak Forest. I told my football coach I wasn’t sure I would make the game because of soccer, ... he said to not worry about it.”
Corum, a right midfielder as well as a forward at times during soccer, made 29-of-30 PATs and all three of his field goal attempts on the gridiron.
“The accuracy and motion I have is just in the mind, just like in soccer,” he said. “I began playing soccer when I was only five years old so I know the motions and just know what to do. When I kick a penalty I go three back and two to the left just like in football, except I hit the ball differently.”
Shepard senior Michal Strama and Homewood-Flossmoor sophomore Ethan Lindquist are two other players who are playing soccer and kicking for their school’s football teams this fall.
There are also at least two dual-duty athletes who are especially unique -- girls kicking for their football teams who play soccer in the spring. Tinley Park senior Sam Tuuk and Crete-Monee senior Grace Miller don’t have the extra busy schedule of their male counterparts, but they can also say they play both kinds of football.