With the movie "Invincible" on its last leg of theatrical showings, major college football had its own Vince Papale story this weekend.
This story started when a Boston College student with no football experience in either college or high school (or Pop Warner for that matter) made his football debut in BC's nationally televised game against the No. 22 Virginia Tech Hokies on Thursday night. Standing at the BC 35-yard line, Boston College sophomore kicker Steve Aponavicius was prepared to make his first foray into organized football.
Talk about a complete change from one year ago. Last year, after making the team as a freshman walk-on with no previous experience, Aponavicius did not dress for any of the team's games. Instead, he spent every game in the stands, covered in face paint, cheering on his Eagles.
In early October, however, the team's starting place-kicker Ryan Ohliger was indefinitely suspended for getting into a bar fight over his current kicking woes, which included three missed extra points. With his starting kicker out, BC coach Tom O'Brien promoted Aponavicius to the first team.
So on Thursday night, Aponavicius replaced his face paint with eye black. Playing in his first competitive football game ever, Aponavicius proved he belonged, turning in a stellar kicking performance. He drove the opening kickoff deep into Hokie territory and hit two field goals, from 20 and 36 yards. He also nailed two extra points as BC scored an upset victory over Virginia Tech.
Aponavicius had not initially planned on trying out for the team, but during his first week at BC as a freshman, he was spotted by an Eagles assistant coach kicking field goals in Alumni Stadium. Aponavicious thought the coach was going to kick him off the field, but instead, he told the freshman that the football team needed kickers. He suggested that Aponavicious try out.
Although he had never played a down of football prior to Thursday's game, he has had previous experiences kicking - a soccer ball, that is. While at Easton Area High School in Easton, Penn., he was an All-Area Honorable Mention as a defender for the school soccer team.
As a football neophyte, Aponavicius has had an interesting go at it learning the football culture. On the first day of full pad practice, he had to ask teammates how to put on shoulder pads. And with a name like Aponavicius it was only a matter of time before coaches and players made him part of the team with a new moniker. They dubbed him "Sid Vicious," after the Sex Pistols bassist and 1970s punk rock icon.
Thursday's win brought BC to an overall record of 5-1 and 2-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Eagles are currently in a tie with two other teams for second place in the conference's Atlantic Division, one game behind Clemson. A last-second, 17-15 loss to North Carolina State is the only blemish on the Eagles' record.
Thursday's win will almost certainly put the Eagles back into the Associated Press Top 25, which they had earlier vacated with the Wolfpack loss, after improving them to the 21st ranking in the coaches' poll as well. BC still faces a formidable schedule with games at Florida State and Miami as well as a resurgent Wake Forest team that is 6-1.
Virginia Tech will certainly fall in the rankings, and they also still face a stiff schedule. Next week, they face No. 12 Clemson at home, trying to avoid dropping three games in a row for the first time since 2003, when they lost to Virginia, California and BC. They finished that year 8-5, their worst record in nine years.
After Clemson, the Hokies finish up the year with tough match-ups at Miami and at home versus Wake Forest. Their only hope for a Bowl Championship Series berth would be to win out and get lucky, since they need No. 24 Georgia Tech to lose three of its final six games.
