After answering call to arms, Hempfield senior develops into difference maker

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, August 13, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Football found Owen Buchholz. It wasn’t the other way around like most high school players.

Actually, it was Hempfield coach Nick Keefer who introduced and drew Buchholz to the game a few years ago.

Keefer was teaching at Wendover Middle School, and Buchholz was a student.

“He also is my neighbor,” Keefer said. “I recruited him to play. He wasn’t a big kid, but I thought we could mold him. He’s a great kid, and I knew he would work at it.

“You look at him now. He turned into a football player.”

Not only that, but Buchholz has blossomed into a team captain who likely will start on both sides of the ball this season after playing mainly defense last year because he broke his right thumb.

The senior wide receiver and defensive back looks the part, too, after putting on close to 20 pounds to reach roster specs of 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds.

When he puts up both thumbs now, the right one is different from the left, more straight up and down with no curve like the other one.

It’s like he’s showing off a trophy or telling a war story.

“My grandpap has scars on his leg from when he fell off a roof working as a contractor,” Buchholz said. “It’s kind of cool I can show people (the thumb) and say I got that from playing football.”

If that doesn’t show his affection for the game — you can’t see the butterflies in his stomach — nothing will.

“Coach came to me in an eighth grade algebra class,” he said. “He was looking for players. He wanted me to play football and run track. My dad (initially) didn’t want me to play after he saw the movie ‘Concussion.’

“I started playing flag football and felt like the coolest kid. I was pretty scrawny, though, and knew I had to work at it.”

As time went on, Buchholz discovered the weight room and worked on his route running and defensive drills.

“That’s what is exciting: how much he has grown,” Keefer said. “He can’t be satisfied with what he did last year, and I don’t think he is. This year in 7-on-7s, no one got a catch against him. We’re glad to have him back at 100 percent.”

The injury occurred in Week 1 against Connellsville when he was trying to break up a pass to a tight end.

“It was a banjo (coverage) with the tight end on the wing,” Buchholz said. “It was play action, a 5-yard pop pass. I think it happened (on the ground). I had jammed my fingers before multiple times. But this felt different. I couldn’t catch a ball on the sidelines.”

He also couldn’t catch a ball with a cast on his hand. He first wore a crash pad before he was fitted for a hard, “club” cast and wore that for the rest of the season, which allowed him to catch only one pass.

Actually, he had multiple clubs that he slid onto his wrist.

“I threw them all away,” he said.

Buchholz still played nine games last season and made 30 tackles to earn second-team all-conference recognition as a cornerback.

Hempfield has plenty of depth in the receivers’ room, so Keefer isn’t sure if Buchholz will be the leading receiver or one of many who contribute.

“It will be cool to see how many guys contribute offensively,” Buchholz said.

He also hopes to continue to make plays on defense, like he did when he charged up a cobra blitz to create an interception against Gateway and another to force a fumble on a strip sack against Franklin Regional.

“We’re looking forward to him helping us offensively,” Spartans junior quarterback Dom Detruf said. “With his length, he makes a difference on defense for sure.”

Hempfield’s opening game is next Friday at North Hills.

“I want to do what I do best to help the team,” Buchholz said.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Hempfield