QUADRUPLE DUTY: Brockway Freshman Caleb Daugherty Has Excelled at Playing Both Soccer and Football This Fall, Will Also Play Basketball and Baseball

BROCKWAY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Football and fútbol.

Brockway freshman Caleb Daugherty has a rich family history in both.

(Pictured above, Caleb Daugherty reaches out to haul in a pass against Ridgway/submitted photo)

On his father’s side are the soccer players — the fútbolers. The dribblers and passers and goal-scorers.

Daugherty’s father, Andy Daugherty, is the head boys soccer coach at Brockway.

On his mother’s side are the football players — the Putts, a well-known football lineage in Clearfield. His grandfather played tight end in the 1960s. His uncle, Steve Putt, was a fullback in the early 1990s and played in the Big 33 game. His other uncle, Dan Putt, was a lineman for Clearfield on some of the Bison’s great teams in the mid 90s and is currently an assistant coach there.

His cousin, Isaac Putt, is a senior linebacker and fullback for Clearfield.

When it came time for Caleb Daugherty to chose his path — follow the soccer road of his father’s side of the family or the gridiron one of his mother’s side of the road — he picked both.

As a freshman this season for the Rovers, Daugherty has enjoyed success both on the soccer pitch and the football field.

Brockway football coach Jake Heigel wasn’t in the least bit shocked.

“It might be a surprise to some people to see a freshman doing what he’s doing against the competition he’s doing it against, but for us, it’s not,” Heigel said. “When we watched him in junior high, we knew he was going to be an immediate impact guy. He was one of those kids who was in every weight room session, at every 7-on-7 and he exploded at the 7-on-7s.”

The only question Heigel had was how quickly would he figure out the high school game?

“It was like waiting for the caterpillar to turn into a butterfly,” Heigel said.

Daugherty is a full-blown Monarch now.

Daugherty has become another big-play weapon in a Brockway offense that his loaded with them.

He has 23 receptions for 571 yards and nine touchdowns for the 7-3 Rovers, who play Union/A-C Valley at home on Friday night to open up the District 9 Class A playoffs.

Daugherty has 13 catches for 367 yards and six TDs in his last three games.

“We knew by the end of the year, he would start to come on and we knew his pedigree as far as a family background,” Heigel said.

“He passes the eye test, not only on the field, but in the weight room. He had the intangibles of being 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds at that age. He is just magic with the ball. He was 23 touches and nine of them are touchdowns.”

Not bad considering for much of the year Daugherty was juggling two sports in the same hectic season.

Splitting time between soccer and football would have been difficult for most, but Daugherty was able to handle it well.

“It wasn’t really that hard for me — I kept a pretty good mindset throughout all of it,” he said. “I kept good grades up throughout it all.”

Daugherty said the most difficult part came before the seasons.

During training camp for both sports, he was running and running and running.

And running.

“The constant running was hard,” he said, laughing. “But there were really no real downfalls about playing both.”

Daugherty admitted he was concerned about doing both sports during the summer. He had the usual doubts. Could he handled the physical — and mental — load. Would it just be too much?

He found those fears were unfounded.

His soccer coach and father encouraged him to take on that challenge and Heigel accommodated Daugherty through the inherent conflicts.

“My dad had the same mindset that I do about it. He wants me to be successful and he also wants me to enjoy it,” Daugherty said. “You only get to go to high school one time, so he said to play what I can play. He was open to it and Coach Heigel was open to it and they worked together on that, too.”

Daugherty will also play basketball this winter and baseball this spring for Brockway.

To handle the rigors of playing four sports, Daugherty focused on getting himself stronger through his work in the weight room.

He added muscle to his 6-1 frame — Daugherty said he was a “skinny kid” and knew he needed to add weight.

What resulted was some eye-popping lifting numbers.

Daugherty can squat 350 pounds. He has a 405-pound trap bar deadlift. He can bench 185.

He has speed, too, clocking a 4.7 40-yard dash time this summer.

All this from a 15-year-old.

His skills give Brockway another home run threat in an offense that also has senior Blake Pisarcik, who has 67 catches for 1,096 yards and seven TDs, and running back Jendy Cuello, who has gained 1,208 yards on the ground and found the end zone 10 times.

Daugherty said those two seniors have helped him acclimate to the high school game.

“They were the two guys who stood out for me,” he said. “They helped me during the offseason. They would teach me footwork skills and just helped me get better. The older guys were looking out for me.

“It’s a blast playing in this offense,” he added. “Everyone is involved. It’s really fun to play and I’m excited to be a part of the team for the next three years.”

But there’s things to accomplish this year, too, and Daugherty is excited to be a part of it.

He’s also excited about the strong freshman class he is a part of that he believes can definitely leave a huge mark on Brockway.

“I want to win championships in every sport I play,” Daugherty said. “That’s what me and my buddies talk about. We have a really good freshman class and I think we can be one of the best classes in all of Brockway sports. I think we can win championships. I think we can set personal records. That’s what we strive for — championships and working as a team.”