PITTSBURGH — One kicks a football, the other snaps it.

Those are far from the only things Butler residents Jake Rocchi and Donovan Slater can do. The Central Catholic teammates aren’t bad in the classroom, either.

Rocchi is a senior place-kicker for the Vikings while Slater, a junior, is the team’s starting center. Both are likely headed for Ivy League schools when their high school careers are over.

“They are exemplary students and outstanding people,” Central coach Terry Totten said. “We’re proud to have them here.”

Rocchi carries a 4.97 grade point average and is ranked seventh in his class. He wants to become a doctor as his father is a pediatrician in Butler.

Penn, Brown and Columbia are the Ivy League schools Rocchi is considering, along with Patriot League schools Bucknell, Fordham and Holy Cross.

“I’ll definitely play football wherever I go,” he said.

Rocchi handled kickoff duties for Central Catholic last year and has been on the roster for four years. He had to wait until standout kicker Mitch Manzura — now a freshman at Ohio State — graduated before getting a chance to kick from placement for the Vikings.

“Jake has shown a lot of patience in playing that waiting game,” Totten said. “Now he’s making the most of his opportunity.”

Rocchi has converted all 40 of his PATs and hit three of five field goal attempts, including a 49-yarder against North Hills.

“That was supposed to be from 44 yards, then we took a motion penalty,” Rocchi said. “I looked to the sidelines at that point, figuring we would punt, but the coach told me to stay out there.”

Rocchi said he’s dreaming of hitting a clutch field goal to win a big game — perhaps in the playoffs. He nearly got the call last week at Pine-Richland.

The game was tied at 28 when Viking quarterback Troy Fisher scored on a quarterback sneak from 16 yards out with fewer than 30 seconds to play.

“I was ready to kick and I felt for sure I would have made it,” Rocchi said. “But scoring a touchdown is always better.”

Slater couldn’t have agreed more.

A second-year starter, the 6-foot-3, 285-pound lineman was moved from right tackle to center this season. Slater started at right tackle last year as Central went 11-2, losing to Pine-Richland in the WPIAL Class AAAA title game.

“Our goal here is to win a state championship,” Slater said. “We’re not aiming for anything less.

“They moved me to center this year because they figured it’d be better for me and for the team.”

Slater carries a 4.2 GPA and is already attracting interest from Ivy League schools. He is undecided as to his eventual course of study, but admitted he likes athletic training and physical therapy.

“I haven’t committed to any particular field yet, but academics will come first,” he said.

Two other junior starters on the offensive line — 6-5, 300-pound C.J. Thorpe and 6-3, 260-pound Jake Hinish — are already receiving Division I offers. Central Catholic is averaging 289 yards rushing per game.

“It’s a good feeling to control the line of scrimmage, but we’re multi-dimensional offensively,” Slater said.

Central Catholic finished 8-1 in the regular season and is 34-4 over the past three years. The Vikings host Upper St. Clair Friday in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs.

Rocchi and Slater both played football at Butler Junior High before deciding to go to Central.

“I was a soccer player and Marc Hunka, Butler’s varsity kicker, talked me into kicking for the junior high team,” Rocchi recalled. “I played soccer from the time I was 5 all the way until my freshman year.”

Rocchi won two state championships as a goalkeeper for Arsenal FC, a club team in Fox Chapel.

Slater was always an offensive lineman while growing up in Butler.

“Right tackle or center, it was one of those two positions ever since fourth grade,” he said.

“I came to Central for the academics and the beautiful campus. I’m a Christian, too, and I love the Christian atmosphere.”

Transportation to school hasn’t been easy. Slater said his mother drives him to Cranberry and he takes a private bus to school from there. Sometimes he and Rocchi car-pool to and from practice.

“Getting to and from school every day is interesting, but it’s been worth it for both of us,” Slater said.

A third Butler resident, sophomore Cam Laconi, is a reserve defensive back at Central. He returned the opening kickoff 35 yards in the Vikings’ 49-0 win over Butler last week.