ALLEGANY, N.Y. — Who says kickers aren’t real football players?
Not only does Anthony DeCapua regularly boot the ball through the uprights for the Allegany-Limestone football team, he’s one of the Gators’ most impactful offensive and defensive performers. But while the senior athlete plays running back, safety, punt returner, kick returner and placekicker for coach Marcus Grove’s football team, he also plays midfielder for Jon Luce’s boys soccer team.
Last Wednesday, DeCapua scored two goals in a 6-0 soccer victory over Fredonia, but his run of scoring was just beginning. On Thursday, in a 42-0 gridiron win at Silver Creek/Forestville, he found his way to the end zone four different ways: rushing, receiving, a punt return and an interception return for a “pick six.” His 89-yard touchdown reception from Michael Frederick marked the Gators’ longest play from scrimmage this year and the fourth-longest reception in Section 6 this season.
He now has four interceptions, a team and Class C South high, three punt returns for touchdowns and a team-high 240 rushing yards on 7.1 yards per carry. A-L’s been resurgent this season, winners of its last three games to pull to 3-3 after an 0-3 start.
“He’s been unreal. He’s a workhorse offensively, defensively and special teams. All three phases,” Grove said. “He’s truthfully just a workhorse. He’s just an athlete, a true athlete.”
DeCapua played youth football at the peewee and midget level, but by the time he reached high school he chose soccer as his fall sport. But as a sophomore, during the split fall season in the spring of 2021, he came out for the football team and played both offense and defense. The following fall, soccer was still his primary sport as a junior, but he kicked and played some defense for the football team.
“This year he actually decided he wanted football to be his primary sport, soccer is his secondary sport,” Grove said. “So this year he’s playing offense for us and having a great year at running back. He’s playing safety for us and having an unbelievable year there. He’s our kick returner, punt returner and he’s our place kicker for us on field goals and extra points.”
DeCapua still puts up big numbers for the soccer team as well, currently second on the team in goals with six, behind only Eric Spring’s 20.
He’s hardly the first high schooler to toggle between both American football and the rest of the world’s football. Soccer players kicking for the football team is commonplace among many local high schools, but DeCapua’s impact in all three phases of the game while still keeping up with his soccer schedule takes a lot of time and effort.
Grove said so far the football and soccer teams had just one conflicting game date, when DeCapua played his primary sport this fall. On weeknights, he’ll often start his afterschool day at football practice, then head to the soccer turf for practice or a game.
“When he has a home soccer game, because of our new turf complex, our soccer games are typically played under the lights, therefore he can be at the practice for the entirety of practice and then go to his game,” Grove noted. “When he plays an away game, it all depends on when the bus leaves. If the bus leaves right after school at 3 o’clock, he goes to his soccer game, and then we kind of have some other kids get ready position-wise, teaching different aspects of our offense or focusing really heavily on defense because Anthony has a really good grasp of what’s going on defensively. Every single day for the most part Anthony’s there for at least half the practice if not the whole practice and then he heads up to soccer.”
In other New York high school football news and notes this week:
— Pioneer’s Brody Doyle is the latest Big 30 player to earn a Connolly Cup Player of the Week honor. Doyle earned the Week 6 recognition for his defensive end play in a 23-6 non-league victory over South Park. He made 11 tackles including four sacks in a smothering defensive performance for the Panthers.
— Unbeaten Randolph (6-0) remains second in The Buffalo News’ Western New York small school poll behind only Class B Iroquois. The Cardinals received two of the six first-place votes.
Franklinville/Ellicottville (5-1) climbed one spot to sixth while Portville (5-1) is eighth. Pioneer (4-2) received an honorable mention.
— Randolph sits fifth in the NYSSWA Class D state rankings, while F/E and Portville are ninth and 10th, respectively.
Pioneer climbed into the top 25 in Class B at 24th, while Olean is an honorable mention. Salamanca is an honorable mention in Class C.
Bolivar-Richburg took a tumble from second to seventh in the eight-man state rankings after its first loss of the season, 36-6, to No. 1 Canisteo-Greenwood.
