Mars grad caps stellar grid career
GROVE CITY — Caleb Brake's football career is over.
The honors keep rolling in.
A Mars graduate, Brake graduated from Grove City College this spring with degrees in accounting and finance. He recently made the first team NCAA Division III All-District Academic team, carrying a 3.65 grade point average.
Now on the ballot for the nationwide CoSIDA Academic All-America team, Brake's name also found its way on to the All-Presidents' Athletic Conference team in each of his four years as the Wolverines' punter.He also earned All-ECAC South honors in 2018.“Grove City is a tough academic school and for Caleb to make all-conference and all-academic the way he has is truly remarkable,” GCC football coach Andrew DiDonato said. “He illustrates the term student-athlete.”Brake will begin employment at a firm in Pittsburgh this fall, doing tax work. He's already feeling what it's like not playing football for the first time in 10 years.“I have a lot of free time this summer,” Brake said. “I'm used to going out on the field (at Grove City) and kicking footballs five days a week throughout the summer.“Not having to do that now ... it's weird.”Brake averaged 37.9 yards per punt during his collegiate career. He handled the kick-off chores for Grove City as well.He repeatedly pinned his punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line.“His directional kicking was extraordinary, one of his best skills,” DiDonato said. “Caleb could pin the ball along the sidelines or angle it out of bounds.“He was a weapon, the way he could flip or establish field position for us.”When Brake left a consistent WPIAL playoff team at Mars and arrived at Grove City, the Wolverines had not won a football game in three years. He turned out being part of a senior class that went 18-4 over the past two seasons.Included in that run was Grove City''s first-ever postseason football victory and consecutive ECAC bowl appearances.“So proud to be part of the class that turned this program around,” Brake said. “I was not expecting all of that to happen.“When I came up here, my mind-set was just to do as well as I could, work as hard as I could, and hopefully other players would do the same.“Whenever I saw a teammate work hard, it inspired me to work harder,” Brake added.Brake averaged 36.4 yards per punt this spring — his final football season — while putting three of his nine punts inside the opponents' 20. He did not have a touchback.DiDonato does not under-estimate Brake's role in the reversal of the Wolverines' grid fortunes.“Of those 18 wins, many were by the margin of one score,” the coach pointed out. “Caleb's role in giving us good field position ... I guarantee it made an impact in a number of those wins.“His kickoffs were effective as well. We are going to use multiple players next season to handle all of the things that Caleb did for us.”While recognizing “it's a pretty cool thing” to be honored for his academic excellence, Brake is unsure whether he will stay involved in football as a potential kicking coach.He recalled former Mars kicker Mike Baumgartel coaching him in high school.“He was awesome. He showed me so much,” Brake said. “I do think of those days. Yeah, it would be cool to maybe do that for somebody else down the road.”In the meantime, Brake is adjusting to life without football.“I loved going on the field and competing with my teammates,” he said. “I will definitely miss that.”
