Best of the best: Armentrout revels in thrills of sports

J.J. Armentrout, Central Falcons Boys Athlete of the Year

By Jeremy Stafford - jstafford@nvdaily.com

WOODSTOCK -- Plenty of kids know what it's like to score a touchdown in a neighbor's backyard.

They've felt the exhilaration of running through that imaginary line between a fencepost and a nearby cherry tree on a Saturday afternoon.

But only a select few athletes have been fortunate enough to soar along the grass of a painted field on a Friday night, under those raised lustrous lights, and cross into the end zone amidst the roar of friends, family and strangers.

The feeling of scoring a touchdown in those conditions, J.J. Armentrout thought, must be more than exhilarating, it must be euphoric.

"Just playing backyard football at [quarterback John Baroncelli's] house, just catching touchdowns, knowing what it felt like there, I wondered what it feels like on Friday night," Armentrout said.

Every Monday morning during the 2006 football season, Armentrout heard all the football stories from the previous Friday night. He heard stories of late drives and game winning scores; of guys laying other guys out in front of a packed stadium, and how it was so much better than playing neighborhood ball.

It all sounded so marvelous.

So as a junior, Armentrout, who until then had played basketball for only three years and baseball for the better part of his life, suited up on the gridiron for coach Mike Yew.

It didn't take long for Armentrout, The Northern Virginia Daily's Boys Athlete of the Year, to become an outstanding tight end: In his first season, he caught 21 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns; as a senior, he caught 22 passes for 420 yards and five touchdowns.

And the elation of scoring, of catching a bullet-pass over the middle and then breaking through a wall of linebackers and safeties to fall into the end zone, certainly lived up to Armentrout's expectations.

In fact, on Sept. 14 2007, in only his fourth career football game, Armentrout caught five passes for 76 yards and a career high three touchdowns.

That day stands out to him as the day football overtook baseball as his favorite sport.

"That's just when my career caught on fire," said Armentrout, who will play football at Concord this fall. "I had three touchdowns that game -- I felt really good after that game and I was just like, 'You know, football's my thing.'"

The quick success of Armentrout on the football field was a summation of his entire athletic career: Relatively short, but full of accomplishment.

Armentrout, despite being bigger than most of his friends growing up, hadn't played much basketball, pick-up games included, until he was in the eighth grade. And even then the sport didn't stand out to him as one he really enjoyed playing.

It wasn't until Armentrout's sophomore year, when he distinguished himself as a top player on Central's JV team and occasionally played with the varsity team, that Armentrout really gave basketball the priority that he had so often given baseball. By his senior year, Armentrout had become one of the more dominating centers in the area, averaging 13.5 points per game and 9.9 rebounds per game.

For varsity head coach Roger Wilkins, it was Armentrout's rebounds and his hustle away from the ball, not his scoring, that made Armentrout such a unique player.

"He was very good at his positioning and using his strength, but the best part about his rebounding was that he just knew where the ball was going to go," Wilkins said. "He watched the ball in the air and he took off and went to the spot where the thing was going.

"He was just one of the best if not the best rebounders ... that I've ever coached."
Central's (15-7, 11-5 Northwestern) basketball team finished fourth in the district this past winter and Armentrout earned second-team all-district honors.

And slowly, as his honors and awards piled up in other sports, baseball began to fade away into the background of Armentrout's life.

Of course he still loved the sport. He still found himself at his home in Woodstock, carefully stepping into each of the square tiles on his kitchen floor and measuring out his pitching stance; going through every step of his pitching motion.

And he was still good enough to lead the area with a 0.44 ERA as a closer, hit .377 with 14 RBIs and a home run, and make the Northwestern District second-team as an outfielder.

But there was something he felt during each of his eight career touchdowns, something more fulfilling than anything he felt playing baseball.

The lights, the attention, the painted lines which no longer had to be imagined, it really was euphoric.

"I love football, I love scoring," Armentrout said. "I love catching that ball over linebackers and whatnot, breaking some tackles and running it in for a touchdown."