ODA QB Anthony Squitieri has chance to cement starting role

It was mid-October game with a season that wasn’t heading to a postseason berth when Anthony Squitieri was given the chance to shine.

Rallying from a 19-point fourth-quarter deficit against a bigger school, the Out-of-Door Academy freshman delivered an overtime victory for the Thunder.

The club’s starting quarterback, Gus Mahler, left with a head injury in that game against St. Petersburg Catholic and is taking this spring off to recoup from playing three sports and from dealing with concussion injuries in the past.

It’s opened the door for Squitieri to cement himself as the program’s starting quarterback heading into the summer break after Friday’s spring game against Spring Hill Bishop McLaughlin at Thunder Stadium.

“Anthony’s our guy for Friday,” ODA head coach Ken Sommers said. “... I think we’ll always want to compete, and allow guys to go out and do their best. Nobody’s safe out here. Nothing’s guaranteed.”

Squitieri, now a rising sophomore, has gained some inches and weight to his frame. He’s grown from a 5-foot-6, 130-pound guy to a 5-foot-8, 160-pound signal-caller. And that’s only helped his development.

His father, Tony, was a quarterback at the University of Rhode Island and with the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League. His professional career wrapped up in the late 1990s, and he turned to coaching youth football.

Tony’s son, Anthony, grew up with the sport and played at the youth level with a couple standouts in the area: Venice High quarterback Bryce Carpenter and Sarasota High quarterback Bryan Gagg.

“He needs to continue to rally his teammates,” Tony said. “So it just doesn’t take him, it takes the whole team to be successful. And those guys have been successful, because of the guys around him. So if he can find a way to find that connection with the team and be that leader, I think the technical side and the playing side will come natural.”

Anthony Squitieri completed 13 of his final 18 passes in ODA’s victory over St. Pete Catholic last fall, and that performance sticks in his mind, though he’s hungry for more.

“It’s a pretty special feeling,” Squitieri said. “You don’t really get that very often. But when you do get it, it’s awesome. Just having that confidence that you can do that and then that feeling, it’s really unlike anything else. ... Every game-in and game-out is doing anything I can to get that W.”

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 11:59 PM with the headline "ODA QB Anthony Squitieri has chance to cement starting role."