Football, Track & Field
Favorite athlete: Tim Tebow
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating Neshaminy for the third year in a row to win back-to-back SOL National titles.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Probably when I tried to quit football when I was six because I didn’t like wearing a cup.
Music on iPod: Country
Future plans: Play four more years of football and graduate with a degree in Sports Marketing.
Words to live by: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
One goal before turning 30: Graduate from college and have a good paying job doing what I enjoy.
One thing people don’t know about me: Most of my family lives in South America.
By GORDON GLANTZ
When Pennsbury fell to North Penn in the second round of the PIAA playoffs a year ago, Austin O’Neill took a look around the locker room and locked eyes with some of his senior teammates.
“It was not a nice sight, seeing my buddies all upset,” said O’Neill, the Univest Featured Male Athlete of the Week.
O’Neill was also inconsolable, but he awoke the next day to the realization that his career was not over.
“I was real upset, too, but it made me more determined,” he said. “I didn’t want to feel that way again.”
So far, so good.
As a senior offensive lineman, O’Neill and the rest of the Falcons – featuring Rutgers-bound tailback Charles Snorweah—have made it past the second round and are in the district semifinals against Upper Dublin.
“Everyone is determined and focused,” said O’Neill. “This has been our goal since we lost to North Penn last year.
“It’s awesome, and this is football weather, too. The last two years, we didn’t get past this mark, so it’s great for us to be in the district semis.”
It was about two weeks after last season ended that Pennsbury coach Galen Snyder approached O’Neill, an all-league choice at tackle and starter there since his sophomore year, and floated the idea of switching to guard.
“At first it was a big change for me because the guards do a lot of pulling,” said O’Neill. “It worked out better in the end, though, because I got to show my talent more.”
While the generic school of thought is for a coach to play his best offensive linemen at tackle, the Falcons’ Wing-T attack relies heavily on guards pulling, creating space for Snearweah to do his thing.
“We pull on almost every play,” said O’Neill. “(Snorweah) is just ridiculous, the way he breaks it to the edge and takes it down the field. He makes our job easier.”
Easier, yes, but it cuts both ways.
The line has been stellar and will need to be in the cold weather, and Snyder knows where his bread is buttered.
He can’t say enough about O’Neill and the job he has done anchoring the line.
“He has been tremendous,” said the coach. “He is one of the best linemen we’ve ever had here.”
The praise from his coach makes O’Neill feel “very honored,” adding that it was “nice to hear.”
Snyder cites the infectious toughness of the 5-10, 260-pounder as his main attribute.
“I try to play tough,” said O’Neill. “I lead by example. I was elected by my peers as a captain, and I just try my best to fit that role. Being a captain has been a real honor.
“I’m really not too vocal. I guess I’m just the stereotypical offensive lineman.”
Off the field, O’Neill has gotten satisfaction working alongside rivals from other Suburban One League schools helping special needs kids play football with the Bucks County Challenger football program.
“I like helping people,” he explained. “They all really look up to us, and it’s cool to see the smiles on their faces.”
He said it also been equally rewarding to overcome the initial odd feeling of volunteering with some of the same players from around the league that he knocks heads with under the Friday night lights.
“It was a little weird at first, but we are all coming out for the same reason,” he said. “It’s pretty cool.”
While O’Neill isn’t looking too far past Friday’s district semifinal game, he has his sights set on playing at the next level.
Right now, he is talking with Millersville and other Division II-level schools in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
“Whoever gets him is going to get a heck of a football player,” said Snyder, who added that he could envision O’Neill making the transition to center on the collegiate level.
“I’ll play anywhere,” said O’Neill, who has played defense this year in short-yardage situations and is proud to report that when “we bring in the meat,” the opponent has only scored once all season.
Football is pretty much a way of life in the O’Neill household. Jordan O’Neill, his fraternal twin, is a starting linebacker for the Falcons.
“We have been playing together all our lives,” he said of his brother, who weighs in at a smaller 205 pounds while also standing 5-10.
He doesn’t recall the last time parents, Carlos and Donna, missed a game – going back to when he and Jordan began playing as six-year-olds.
Ironically, Carlos O’Neill is from Uruguay and didn’t come to this country until he was 20. He grew up playing soccer.
“That’s what he played,” said O’Neill, laughing. “I can’t imagine playing soccer.”
Even though he took up field events – javelin, shot put and discus -- on the track team last spring, and plans to continue this season, it’s all football all the time.
And all the work – the lifting and film study – has paid dividends.
“In our Wing-T offense, we do a lot of pulling with our guards, and he is as good as anybody I’ve ever seen at doing it,” said Snyder. “Like I said, he is one of the best offensive linemen we have ever had here.”
