By Alex Frazier
Gettin’ their kicks – It’s not unusual for football coaches to recruit kickers from the soccer team.But how many soccer teams produce two kickers in the same season?
Juniors Sean Sheridan and Bryan Reice have assumed the kicking duties for the Neshaminy football team when they’re not out knocking the ball around the soccer field.
When Sheridan isn’t booting the ball into the soccer goal, he’s sailing it over the crossbar and between the uprights in football. He also kicks off and kicks extra points.
Reice does all the punting for the Redskins.
For Sheridan, it is his first year playing football.
His uncle is one of the football coaches, and the topic of his kicking had been talked about among his family. In mid August, he decided to go for it.
“I figured it would be a cool experience,” said Sheridan. “I kind of liked it so I kept on doing it. A lot of my friends wanted me to do it, too.”
Kicking a soccer ball and placekicking are two different techniques, which took Sheridan a while to adjust to.“At first it was a lot different,” he said. “Since the ball is a different shape, you have to hit it differently. After a while I got the technique down. Instead of kicking it straight forward, I could take it up higher and farther.”
Sheridan’s average kickoff soars to the five-yard line. He has made two field goals this year and most of his extra points.
“He has that snap when he gets his leg back and his foot makes contact with the ball,” explained soccer coach Rich Reice. “You can tell some guys have that, and Sean does.”
A midfielder for the Redskins, he is also one of the leading scorers on the soccer team.
“Sean strikes a good ball,” said Rich Reice. “His technique is very, very good.”
But as Sheridan said, “I’m not one of those guys that pays attention (to stats), I just like to go out there and do it. It’s definitely been a good year for me because I’ve scored a lot of goals and extra points.”
Both Sheridan and Reice had to declare soccer as their primary sport. There has only been one conflict so far. Sheridan missed the football game against Council Rock North because he had a soccer club meeting.
He plays for the MLS Red Bulls Academy team.
“It’s kind of like a professional experience,” he said. “It’s pretty cool.”
Fridays tend to be marathon days for Sheridan and Reice. They start school at 7 a.m., play a soccer game after school and then stand on the sideline of the football game that night.
“It’s like I’m on my feet all day,” said Sheridan, “so it’s pretty tiring.”
But Sheridan doesn’t mind.
“It’s definitely a good thing,” he said. “The best part is being around all my friends playing. We always have a good time. It’s always competitive. Just being around your friends makes it a lot better.”
•••
Unlike Sheridan, Reice has been punting for quite a while. In fact, he gave up soccer in seventh grade to play football. He played running back, wide receiver and corner back.
And of course punted.
“Ever since seventh grade, I was the kid on the football team that could kick,” he said. “I just kind of went with it. It was hard in middle school, trying to get the snap back and blocking, I didn’t have a lot of time.”
This year as a junior, Reice decided to switch back to soccer.
For one thing he missed it, and for another he was getting beaten up in football.“Football got pretty tiring after a while,” he said. “I got hurt a lot.”
He doesn’t regret having played, however.
“It toughened me up as an athlete and I got a lot stronger playing football,” he said.
Though he gave up playing football, he didn’t lose his interest in punting; in fact, it only increased.
As a sophomore he punted for the Redskins’ football team.
In his second year punting for the high school, Reice is averaging 40 yards per punt. Because Neshaminy is so good, he isn’t called upon too often. In the first three games, he punted only three times. Recently he’s had two or three, including a couple of blocked punts.
He has been working with former all-pro Kansas City Chiefs’ punter Bob Grupp, who is a Neshaminy alumnus.
“He worked with me last year, but more this year,” said Reice. “I’ve been doing all right. Hopefully my senior year, I’ll break out.”
As a game manager, Rich Reice stands on the sidelines during football games. Although he has coached his son at different times throughout his career, he never got as nervous as he does watching him punt.
“I get nervous as anything,” he said. “Playing soccer I can control things, relatively control, but when he goes out there my heart’s in my throat until he gets it away.”
Returning to soccer after a three-year hiatus has taken some adjusting. At the beginning of the season, Reice was starting at forward, but when his father decided to make some adjustments by moving a couple of players forward, he found himself as a part-timer.
“I get in 10-15 minutes,” he said. “That’s fine with me as long as I’m out there contributing to the team.”
Reice is also an excellent sprinter. He was 17th in the state last year in the indoor 200 and made the semifinals in spring track, just missing states by one place.
Over the winter, Rich Reice plans to work with his son on honing his skills.
But the bottom line is Bryan is thinking seriously about pursuing punting at the next level.
“I’d love to punt at any college, hopefully D-1 or a D-2 school,” he said.
Failure is not an option – When Council Rock South’s Chad Czapor was diagnosed with a pediatric brain tumor two years ago, the entire Council Rock community came to the family’s support.
His father John was a well-known coach of Council Rock United for many years.
“Naturally, when we heard about Chad, the whole community came together and we had beef and beers and fundraisers,” said Council Rock South coach Alan Nicholl. “It was really nice to see it come together and as compassionately as it did.”
One of those fundraisers two summers ago was a local tournament. Chad’s younger brother Troy and the players on his team all wore T-shirt printed with Chad’s picture and the words “FC Chad.”
“Little things like that pull an emotional cord for you,” said Nicholl. “I still see the FC Chad shirts floating around on the kids.”
The community support has been ongoing.
“It was nice to see the sport give back and make such an impact on the family,” said Nicholl.
This year as a senior, Troy is dedicating his season to Chad, who is now a freshman at St. John’s.
Troy is donating T-shirts to kids at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for each goal he scores. For the Golden Hawks he’s tallied four goals and had one assist.
A defender most of his life and still one on his club team, Troy has been playing forward for South because Nicholl believed he would bolster the attack.
“He’s probably the quickest player on the team,” said Nicholl. “He’s a stunning athlete. I do believe Troy could play varsity in any sport offered at the high school. He has natural athleticism.”
Unlike Troy, Chad never had the chance to play for Nicholl. But despite all that he went through, including three surgeries, he remained loyal to the game.
“He was a manager of the soccer team when he was a student at South,” said Nicholl. “He was an inspiration on the sideline. He helped out with the girls’ team. He helped out with the boys’ team. It was amazing to see this kid be a part of the team without stepping on the field.”
And even though he is away at college, he still came back for the North-South game.
“It was an amazing experience to be around the whole Czapor family, just knowing the things they were going through,” said Nicholl.
Troy is also trying to create awareness about pediatric brain tumors on his website, www.cure4chad.org. He is hoping to raise $250,000 towards research.
Districts – Seeding for the District Tournament will be held on Sunday. The first round of play will take place on Oct. 26. The first two rounds and the quarterfinals will take place at the field of the higher seeded team. Game times are 3 p.m. or 7 p.m.
Twenty-eight Class AAA teams will be seeded. The top four teams will receive a bye in the first round.
The District One guidelines for seeding state that a lower place team in a league cannot be seeded higher than a team that placed higher in the same league. When possible teams from the same league shouldn’t play each other in a first-round game. A team’s past success or tradition should not be considered.
The higher seeded team will wear light colored uniforms and be considered the home team. Visitors will wear dark colors.
Four teams will advance to the state tournament.
In Class AA only five teams will be seeded with one advancing to states. The top three teams will receive a bye in the first round.
Around the league – Congratulations to Council Rock North and South for their National Conference co-championship as well as Central Bucks East for winning its third Continental title in the past four years and Wissahickon for turning in a second consecutive undefeated league season in the American Conference. The Trojans gained repute by tying Council Rock North in the first game of the season, blasting defending co-state champion Father Judge 3-0 midway through and defeating Neshaminy 2-0 in their final game.
In non-league action Friday, Hatboro-Horsham defeated Upper Dublin, 3-0. Alex Badulak scored all three Hatter goals. Central Bucks East defeated Holy Ghost Prep 2-0.
SOL Top Five
1. Council Rock South
2. Wissahickon
3. Central Bucks East
4. Council Rock North
5. Pennridge
Southeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association Poll
(Through Sunday)
1. Council Rock South 13-1-1
2. Wissahickon 14-0-1
3. LaSalle 13-1-2
4. St. Joe’s Prep 13-2-2
5. Conestoga 14-1-1
6. Lower Merion 11-1-3
7. Holy Ghost Prep 13-2-2
8. Strath Haven 10-3-3
9. Unionville 10-4-1
10. West Chester Rustin 9-3-3
11. Father Judge 13-4-0
12. Central Bucks East 8-3-3
13. Archbishop Ryan 13-4-0
14. Pennsbury 9-6-1
15. Council Rock North 10-3-2
16. Spring-Ford 10-1-1
17. Neshaminy 10-4-1
18. Kennett 12-3-2
19. North Penn 8-4-1
20. Marple Newtown 9-4-2
Others receiving votes (in order): Haverford School, Shipley, Pennridge, Great Valley, Upper Darby, Downingtown West, Downingtown East, Abington, Malvern Prep, Archbishop Wood, Washington, Franklin Towne Charter
Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association Poll
(Oct. 18)
1. LaSalle (12)
2. Peters Township (7)
3. Conestoga (1)
4. Hempfield (3)
5. Cumberland Valley (3)
6. Mechanicsburg (3)
7. Council Rock South (1)
8. Lower Merion (1)
9. Emmaus (11)
10. State College (6)
Honorable mention: Abington Heights (6), Central Dauphin (3), Conestoga Valley (3), Dallastown (3), Mt. Lebanon (7), Pennsbury (1), Strath Haven (1), Unionville (1), Upper St. Clair (7), Warwick (3), Wissahickon (1)
National Soccer Coaches Association Region III Poll
(Oct. 19)
1. Seton Hall Prep (NJ) 14-0-0
2. LaSalle 12-2-1
3. Don Bosco Prep (NJ) 6-0-3
4. Pingry (NJ) 10-0-0
5. Peters Township (Pa.) 13=1=2
6. Conestoga 14-1-1
7. St. Benedicts (NJ) 11-2-0
8. Hempfield (Pa.) 14-3-0
9. Princeton (NJ) 11-0-1
10. West Orange (NJ) 13-1-0
11. Cumberland Valley (Pa.) 16-2-0
12. Clifton (NJ) 12-1-0
13. Mechanicsburg (Pa.) 16-1-0
14. Council Rock South 12-1-2
15. Lower Merion 12-1-3
- Log in to post comments
0
