SEQUIM — Even if Sequim happens to lose tonight’s rivalry football showdown with Port Angeles, it’s still been a pretty good week for Frank Catelli.
The senior two-way star verbally committed to play for Air Force Academy on Tuesday, becoming the first Division I-A football recruit from the North Olympic Peninsula in a decade.
Catelli said he will likely sign his letter of intent for a full-ride scholarship when he goes to visit the Colorado Springs, Colo., campus in late November.
“They are one of the best schools in the nation academically, they set you up for life and I always wanted to serve, so it’s a good way to do it,” Catelli said by phone Thursday night.
“It’s just a really good opportunity, and after I graduate I get a guaranteed job for five years.
“And I can learn to fly while I’m there, which is something I want to do.”
Air Force currently plays in the Mountain West Conference, but reports have surfaced this week of the Big East attempting to bring it on as a football-only member.
Regardless, Catelli will be the first Peninsula athlete to suit up for a Division I-A football team since Forks High School graduate Pat Bennett played linebacker for Washington State from 2001-04.
Former Wolves teammate Thomas Gallagher also got a scholarship to play tackle for Georgetown University in 2009, but that is a Division I-AA school.
“That’s something that really stuck out to me. I really wanted to pay DI for a really long time, since I was in sixth grade,” Catelli said.
“They play teams like Boise and Navy. They are definitely a good team.”
Catelli said Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun recruited him to play defensive end.
It’s a position the 6-foot-3, 236-pound senior is more than familiar with, having started at end for the Wolves his sophomore and junior years before moving to middle linebacker this season.
He also started at tight end as a junior and eventually took over at quarterback this fall.
Due to a groin injury, however, he will be unable to play in tonight’s Sequim-Port Angeles game.
“I see him being very successful there,” said Sequim head coach Erik Wiker, who also played college football at the University of Idaho. “He is an extremely good talent.
“He’s a good D-end. He’s 236 right now as a young senior. They can mold him into whatever they want.
“I think by the time he plays he’ll be 255, 265 and be faster and stronger.”
Catelli, who also won a Class 2A state title in the shot put as a junior, said he chose Air Force over Idaho and Eastern Washington.
“Air Force has a lot more to offer, and it’s just a better education,” Catelli said.
“I don’t know if I would want to throw track [too], but if I found time to do it I would definitely go out for the team.”