Athlete of the Week: Capuchino’s Lucas Zayac

“He can catch, he can throw, he can run … he can do everything,” Capuchino head coach Jay Oca said. “There’s nothing on the football field he cannot do.”

The blockbuster performance has earned Zayac the first Daily Journal Athlete of the Week nod of the 2023-24 school year, especially since his exploits helped break Cap’s 20-year losing streak in head-to-head play with Burlingame. The Mustangs last defeated the Panthers 49-27 in 2003 before losing nine straight against them.

“It means a lot to me now that we beat them,” Zayac said. “I thought it was pretty special because we have a good team that’s full of guys that all came back from last year … and we all just came together.”

After suffering a freak injury in March during baseball season, however, there was cause for concern Zayac might not be healthy to start his junior year.

In addition to strapping on the shoulder pads for the Cap football team, he also dons the tools of ignorance for the school’s varsity baseball team. While catching in a game against Terra Nova, Zayac attempted to make a throw to third base on a steal attempt when a sudden pain lit him up. That pain was caused by his wrist striking the hitter’s bat, a matter of the wrong-place, wrong-time, as the Terra Nova batter didn’t even swing.

Zayac missed six weeks with a broken wrist, and upon his return to action May 10 was limited to designated hitter detail. He hasn’t played catcher for Cap since March 27, the day he was injured.

“I got back,” Zayac said. “It took me a little while.”

At the time of the injury, Zayac was batting .382 for the Mustangs. In five games after his return, he batted 3 for 13 (.231).

Zayac had an ace up his sleeve, though, that being his mom, Jackie, who works as a physical therapist. After wearing a cast for nearly six weeks, he quickly went back to work building strength with her help.

“She helped me a lot in getting me the recovery I needed,” Zayac said.

While Zayac had to limit his football conditioning through most of the summer — he didn’t start lifting weights until the last week of July — he did get back behind the plate for his Sweet Swing summer baseball travel team. By the time the Cap football team was issued their pads Aug. 2, he had been back in the weight room a week.

“He was ready to go once summer (practice) hit,” Oca said.

A lot is riding on Zayac this season, as Cap football lost two of its leading rushers of a year ago. In 2022, the then-sophomore was in the depth-chart mix with Charlie Barfield and Ray Ibay, both now graduated, along with current junior Victor Villareal.

But Zayac’s breakout performance had much to do with another player’s injury comeback, that of senior guard Samuel “King” Malepeai, a 6-5, 310-pound presence up front who missed the entire 2022 season due to an injury he suffered two days before the Aug. 26, 2022, season opener, a 31-21 loss — to Burlingame.

“His return to our team is huge because he can just move guys around on the line and help our running backs see holes like no one’s business,” Zayac said.

With the Mustangs overcoming a 16-0 halftime deficit, Zayac scored touchdown runs of 1 and 26 yards before his stunning go-ahead score on a hook-and-ladder play, dashing to the end zone on a catch and pitch by junior receiver Travis Ciardella, with 10 minutes to play.

The celebration was so raucous, Zayac appeared to get tackled by his own teammate, tight end Cameron Lowe, on a leaping body bump in the end zone.

“He was so happy he knocked me over when we were in midair,” Zayac said.

Zayac hopped right back onto his feet, though, and helped Cap put the game away with some gritty running and keen clock management. The Mustangs’ final possession could have been a disaster as Burlingame’s special teams threatened to flip the field with a punt pinning Cap to its own 3-yard line with five minutes to play.

But Zayac — fronted by Malepeai, senior guard Aldo Lopez Velasco, senior tackle Jessen Blunt, junior tackle Garren Chew and senior center Arian Gomez — went to work marching downfield but limiting potential chunkers to first-down yardage only. The Mustangs ultimately drove the ball 92 yards before taking a knee at Burlingame’s 5 on the final play of the night.

“He could have easily scored another touchdown … so doing that for the team, that shows the kind of kid he is,” Oca said. “Awesome kid.”