Coach Tim Pierleoni saw Matt Adamkiewicz throw a football in his PE class and knew he had to get the freshman onto his team and groom him to be a quarterback.
“As soon as I saw the things he was able to do in the PE department, I knew he was going to be a special athlete,” Pierleoni said.
Adamkiewicz who played runningback and middle linebacker before entering high school, but took on the challenge.
He hone his craft in the freshman and junior varsity ranks of Christopher football and in his junior year, he got the keys to the car.
His junior season, Adamkiewicz threw for more than 3,300 yards and 34 touchdowns as Christopher charged toward a Pacific Division title and a CCS berth.
He finished with slightly more than 5,000 passing yards, 54 touchdowns, seven rushing scores his junior and senior years. And now Adamkiewicz will get a chance to continue his football career at Redlands University.
Adamkiewicz agreed to play for the university and made it official at a ceremony in a packed Christopher library on May 26.
“It’s always been a dream. A little boy dream to play college football and be an NFL star,” Adamkiewicz said. “It never hit me that it would be a reality that I would be a college athlete one day. It’s cool.”
He said his choice to go down there was a mixture of the coaches working real hard to bring him along and the positive vibe he got from the university.
“It’s a beautiful campus and I really liked the football field,” Adamkiewicz said.
Adamkiewicz said he had a cousin who played for Chapman—which is a part of the NCAA DIII Southern California Interscholastic Athletic Conference—and gave him some good pointers about what to expect and some cool places to visit while in Southern California.
The library was packed with his brothers from the football team, his classmates and also a future teammate from across town. He is the second Gilroy athlete to agree to attend Redlands, joining Will Soares from GHS.
At the ceremony, Pierleoni spoke to just what an important accomplishment it is to be moving on to the collegiate level.
“Not everybody gets this opportunity, this chance to go on an adventure and do these things and represent us,” Pierleoni said.
Adamkiewicz said he will look back to his junior season as the epitome of his high school days when he first cracked the varsity starting lineup.
“We had a lot of juniors—probably four starting each way—and we really stepped up and did a good job,” Adamkiewicz said. “Going into senior year we really built as leaders.”
He said his coaches deserve all the credit for getting not just him but the rest of the starting juniors ready to make that big leap. He said a lot of it does go to Coach Pierleoni who laid that foundation.
“Coach P was a huge factor in giving me an opportunity when I was young when I was coming into this program,” Adamkiewicz said. “My quarterback coach Danny Sullivan is awesome and has been one of the best for me. In my opinion, I do the best I can. I buy into the system. I tell them, ‘I’m going to do what you coach me to do. That’s what
he’s emphasized.”
And Adamkiewicz learned some life lessons from Coach Pierleoni beyond football.
When the coach stepped away to be with his ailing wife who ultimately passed away, the whole team saw what a man does in those situations and that there are more important things in life.
“It was tough and it was definitely a learning experience. He definitely held the reins and showed us you gotta be a man about this. … He taught every single one of us on that field, no matter what, you have to keep your head up.”
Adamkiewicz thanked the crowd for all their support over the years and even started to get a little choked up.
After spending a few moments trying—and failing—to compose himself, his former coach gave him one last play call.
“Just say thank-you,” Pierleoni said.
“Thank you,” Adamkiewicz replied.
