Football, Bowling
Favorite athlete: Jason Peters
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: When my 65 lbs. Morrisville Bulldogs football team went undefeated champions.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When I was younger, I wet myself because I was in the middle of a game and could not come out of it.
Music on iPod: “I have anything from the newest rap/hip hop to country music to classic hits for the 60s, 70s, 80s.
Future plans: Hoping to attend a technical college and play football there. Then after graduation start my own construction business.
Words to live by: Do what you gotta do to get the job done.
One goal before turning 30: Living comfortably enough to make time to come back and get a coaching job at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.
One thing people don’t know about me: Growing up, I was a quarterback my whole youth football career. I took a year off from football while in the process of moving. I blew up and became an offensive lineman eighth grade year.
By Mary Jane Souder
Domenic Procaccino is, in many ways, your typical offensive lineman.
The Plymouth Whitemarsh senior is big and strong with quick feet. He excels at a position that requires both strength and smarts, and the way Procaccino tells it - he had a football in his hands when he came out of his mother’s womb.
But don’t be fooled. Procaccino is anything but your stereotypical football player.
When football season ends, Procaccino devotes his time and talent to a sport at the opposite end of the spectrum. He is the top bowler on PW’s bowling team.
“Normally, I get the golfers that go out for the bowling team,” coach Jeff Blizzard said. “It’s been a unique experience coaching him.
“He’s been a varsity guy from the beginning. He’s a great addition to the team.”
Procaccino admits he’s on the receiving end of some good-natured ribbing for his choice of a second sport, especially when he has to miss an offseason workout for bowling, but he doesn’t mind a bit. Bowling – like football – runs in his family.
“My mom’s side of the family were football players, and my dad’s side – we’re all bowlers,” he said of parents Domenic – a Truman grad – and Malinda, a PW alum. “That’s what we’re good at.
“Everyone is like ‘Bowling?’ That’s my weird sport that I’m good at.”
This fall, Procaccino is the undisputed leader of an inexperienced offensive line.
“He’s the only returning starter from our offensive line last year,” coach Dan Chang said. “This year just in the first two games he has passed my expectations of what I thought he was going to be, which was pretty high.
“He’s really been lights out as an offensive lineman – mentally, physically, technique-wise, and he’s a great role model for all the younger kids, not only with his play on the field but with how he acts. We always talk about program kids and who you want representing your program.”
The number one vote getter when it came time for his teammates to elect a captain, Procaccino is fundamentally sound at a position that requires attention to detail.
“He always steps with the right foot, has his head in the right place and uses his hands well,” Chang said. “He’s smart and able to adjust on the fly. He’s also very physical and handles a lot of our drive blocking duties.”
Interestingly, Procaccino – who began playing tackle football when he was seven - started his career as a quarterback. After talking a year off when his family moved from Levittown to Plymouth Meeting, he returned to football – but as an offensive lineman instead of quarterback.
“I blew up and became a lineman,” Procaccino said. “I always loved playing quarterback, and I never really appreciated the linemen because I never really knew (the position) because when I was younger, the linemen were the kids that weren’t athletic. They were kids to just stand in the way, get the job done.”
Procaccino quickly found out there’s a whole lot more involved to being an offensive lineman than he could have imagined, and when he reached high school, he learned from some of the best as the only underclassmen playing on last year’s line that sent all four seniors on to careers at the collegiate level.
“He was behind probably our best offensive line we’ve had,” Chang said. “He got a chance to play on the line alongside those guys, which was a pretty big accomplishment for the quality of linemen we had last year.”
Procaccino excelled, earning all-league honors, but he admits there was a learning curve when he arrived at high school.
“I definitely learned a whole bunch from them, especially sophomore year going up against them constantly and just getting put on my butt and getting piled into the ground,” he said. “This year I was the only returning starter, but we’ve all been playing together since freshman and eighth grade year.
“We don’t have varsity experience as we did in the past. The ‘O’ line was our powerhouse for the past couple of years. Nobody really talks about us now. They think we’re the weakest link, but we’re coming together and doing what we have to do to get the job done.
“We don’t get the publicity in the paper, but our running backs really appreciate us. They thank us after every play for what we’re doing up front.”
Porcaccino – whose uncle is PW defensive coordinator Paul Borusiewicz - has had ties to PW football since well before he earned a spot on the varsity team as a sophomore. He was the team’s ball boy in both seventh grade and eighth grades. As an eighth grader, he juggled playing for his middle school team with serving as ball boy.
“I looked up to that team – they were my heroes,” Porcaccino said. “They were like my older brothers, they really were.
“I was at every practice, every game, no matter what – rain or shine. It was a full commitment. I had my own locker in the coach’s room. I was up there in the ball boy nation. All the referees loved me. They told me I was the number one ball boy in the league – first team all-ball boy.”
Bowling has also been part of Porcaccino’s life for as long as he can remember.
“I started bowling when I was 10 or 11,” he said. “It was a Saturday morning league with my cousins and buddies, and we ended up winning the league.
“I grew up in bowling alleys. We would all go to the bowling alley while my dad and uncles were all bowling in their leagues. That’s what we did, so it was always in our blood. Everyone in my family is decent at bowling or very good at bowling. That’s how it is.”
Interestingly, no one took Porcaccino all that seriously when he decided to go out for the school team as a freshman, although me missed the signups and was a late arrival on the scene.
“I showed up, and I had my three-ball bag walking in,” he recalled. “They’re like, ‘I think Dom was serious. He’s actually a good bowler.’ I gained a whole new group of friends.”
He also has made significant contributions to the team, earning a spot in regionals as a junior. Beyond that, the personable Porcaccino, according to Blizzard, is fun to be around.
“That is the beauty of Dom,” the PW coach said. “He’s always really loose, and ever since he was a freshman, he’s been really good at encouraging his teammates, and he does it with a competitive spirit.
“He wants to win, and he wants to do well. Like any kid or athlete, they get frustrated when they don’t do well, but he just does a good job of forgetting that and still encouraging his teammates and staying positive. It’s pretty refreshing actually.”
Despite an unorthodox delivery, Porcaccino has excelled.
“It’s not always pretty, but it’s effective,” said Blizzard. “More than anything, I’m looking forward to working with him his senior year.”
While bowling is a lifetime sport, Porcaccino is hoping to extend his football career beyond high school as well.
“I attend tech school where I’m in the construction program,” he said. “I’m looking into Williamson Trade School. They have a football team, and they run a D3 schedule.
“It’s hard to get into, but if I do get into that, I’m definitely going to play football there.”
Porcaccino is keeping his ears open and will entertain all college offers. For now he is leading an inexperienced offensive line for a Colonial squad that is 2-0 out of the gate.
“He’s a lead-by-example kid on the field,” Chang said. “We can always point to Dom, his technique and his effort, and that’s what we want everybody to get to.
“If everybody got to what he is able to do, we’d be excellent, we’d be in really good shape.”
