To say that Wright City senior Benji Rodriguez gives his all for his school and classmates would be a serious understatement.
While Rodriguez isn’t the first high school athlete to play both football and futbol (soccer), his route to double duty has been rather unconventional.
Many times, a soccer player will jump in and be a placekicker for the football team – something that isn’t overly strenuous.
For Rodriguez, though, one of the Wildcats’ top two-way players on the gridiron has now made his way onto the pitch, as well, in something of a plot twist.
“A major reason I got into soccer this year was because of people pushing me to join, and I had already played it in middle school,” Rodriguez said. “I wanted to see if I could have any fun and make a difference.”
Rodriguez has absolutely made a difference for both teams this season.
Not only is he averaging 71 yards and 13 tackles per game for the football team, but Rodriguez has also tallied three goals and two assists for the soccer team.
There have definitely been times this season when an opposing tackler, quarterback or even goalkeeper has been the biggest opposition he’s faced.
It’s been his own body.
“Juggling football and soccer has been quite the task,” Rodriguez said. “When your body is telling you to rest and recover, but you just (have got to) get up and keep moving. I think the hardest part is just accepting that my body is never going to feel 100 percent and I just gotta play through that.”
Rodriguez definitely played through the pain in Wright City’s Week 4 loss at Louisiana.
All he did was tally 143 yards and three scores on 13 carries while adding 18 tackles, with three coming for a loss, on the defensive side of the ball.
His scores came on runs of 25, 5 and 6 yards.
Adding to Rodriguez’s effort were junior quarterback Kayden McCurdy’s 213 passing yards and a score, junior Kaveon Schulte’s 154 receiving yards and a score. Add in return yards and Schulte amassed 222 in the game.
Wright City Coach John Klekamp said Rodriguez's effort, along with the rest of the team's, has things moving in the right direction after bigger margins of defeat in the first three games.
“We played better,” Klekamp said. “Our margin for error is so small at times but this was definitely our best effort. Benji played well.”
Now, though, Wright City must turn its attention to Mark Twain (1-3) as the Tigers come calling at 7 p.m. on Friday. The coach added that the Wildcats are ready to play at home in front of their fans, something the team hasn’t done since Week 2.
“We’re in a stretch of games now where we’ll have the opportunity to gain both confidence and momentum,” Klekamp said. “We have upperclassmen that are playing well at times, but we have to work to consistently execute and hopefully get closer to game shape.”
The coach added that a preliminary forecast of a high temperature of 77 degrees can only bode well for the Wildcats. Especially since each game so far this season has been played in weather conditions very close to triple digits.
“The heat has really hurt our conditioning and practice time,” Klekamp said. “(We’re) hoping that more fall weather this week and coming home is the recipe for a good night of football for us.”
For Rodriguez, any night is a good night for football – or futbol – as long as he gets to help his school in any way he can for as long as he can.
Choosing one sport over the other isn’t an option, he said.
“Honestly, both teams are kind of like a tug of war,” Rodriguez said. “Each team wants me to fully commit to playing their sport. And honestly, I can’t drop either one of them. I just feel a level of responsibility that, once I started, I can’t back out of. I’m not playing for myself; I’m playing for my teams, who are my family. I love each of my brothers on both sides.”
