A-K Valley senior spotlight: Springdale’s Andrew Haus

By: Bill Hartlep
Monday, December 20, 2021 | 11:45 AM

Andrew Haus

Springdale football, soccer

Andrew Haus was talked into playing football this fall. A longtime soccer player, Haus saw his brother Matthew excel on the gridiron and thought he would give it a try.

As the Springdale goalie the past three seasons, Haus had plenty of experience booting a soccer ball. It made for a smooth transition in becoming a reliable kicker and punter for the Dynamos football team.

Haus kicked a field goal and converted 22 extra-point attempts in addition to handling kickoff and punting duties. By the end of the season, Haus established himself as the best punter in the Class A Eastern Conference.

Earlier this month, the senior was recognized with first-team honors on the all-conference team. He was joined on the first team by senior teammates Logan Dexter (running back and safety) and Gio Savko (utility defender).

He took a few minutes to reflect on his performance for this week’s Valley News Dispatch senior spotlight Q&A:

How did it feel to earn all-conference honors for football?

It felt good, especially because my main reason for playing football was mainly for my brother. He played and is good. I started going in the offseason and working with him and found out I wasn’t too bad at it. At the end of the season, it was nice to receive all-conference.

How did you think the football season went?

I think it went really good considering the fact we ended up getting to the quarterfinals and playing Rochester. Unfortunately, they knocked us out like they did last year. Being able to the get to the quarterfinals is pretty good.

How about soccer season?

We had a lot of rough patches along the way, but as a team we stuck through it and made it to the quarterfinals.

What is the tougher skill, place kicking or punting?

Probably kicking for me. Only because I’m used to punting a ball as a goalie for soccer. There’s a couple things I had to switch to get used to the technique. For someone starting out, I think it would be easier to start kicking instead of punting.

How did you get involved in kicking and punting?

I had tried punting a couple times. I didn’t have great technique, but I wasn’t trying to be as good as possible with it. At the end of last (school) year, a couple of my friends and close family friends told me to give it a shot. In the past it wasn’t really a thought in my head that I’d be playing my senior year.

What are your plans for next fall?

I’m hoping to play soccer somewhere. I’m mainly thinking about going to college. If I can’t play soccer, I might try football. I’ll probably end up going to school to get a four-year degree.

How do you want to be remembered at Springdale?

I want to be able to be remembered as someone on the soccer team who was encouraging other players to become the best they can be or challenging each other to push themselves to the limits.

What is something people might not know about you?

Probably the fact that I went to Spain with one of my previous teams. It was great. Being at like 15-16 then, being able to go to a different country to play soccer is incredible. Being able to go there with my closest friends was amazing.

What is on your holiday wish list?

Not a whole lot, being able to get together with family members, hopefully not having to worry about covid.

What was your farthest punt?

In the West Greene playoff game, I had a couple good punts there. I think they went 45-50 yards.

What was your longest field goal?

Warming up, my farthest was a 50-yarder. In game, I had one field goal, 33 yards.

Bill Hartlep is the TribLive sports editor. A Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate, he joined the Trib in 2004, covering high school sports. He held various editing roles before assuming his current position in 2019. He can be reached at bhartlep@triblive.com.

Tags: Springdale