Daily Journal Boys’ Athlete of the Year: Capuchino’s Lucas Zayac

“I’m going to tell you, there’s been a lot of great athletes (who have come through Capuchino),” said Capuchino’s longtime baseball manager Matt Wilson, also a Cap alum.

“In my coaching career, he’s definitely up there (among the best to come through the school).”

While his catching prowess landed Zayac a spot on the baseball team at University of La Verne in Southern California, Zayac really put the “athlete” in “Athlete of the Year.”

Not the biggest — he stands about 5-9, 190 pounds — or the fastest, Zayac nevertheless possesses the traits necessary to be a well-rounded athlete: he works hard, has a lot of heart, and maybe most importantly, is selfless.

“I was all about getting the win, more than anything,” Zayac said. “My main goal … was to try to make people around me better.”

And to think it all started because of a dilemma Zayac’s mother found herself in.

Emergence on the gridiron

A private school kid, Lucas Zayac had never played organized football before entering high school and he didn’t know a lot of his future classmates.

But his mom also didn’t like the thought of him playing football.

“My mom didn’t want me to play football,” Zayac said. “But then she wanted me to make some friends.”

Capuchino head football coach Jay Oca is certainly glad Zayac’s mom let him play because he developed into a key piece of the Mustangs’ recent resurgence.

And Oca saw it right away. Zayac showed up for summer football workouts ahead of his freshman year and was participating in some 7-on-7 passing league tournaments.

“He was a short, little kid … running with varsity guys,” Oca said. “He was out there catching balls on seniors, making plays. The only reason we didn’t play him varsity his freshman year was we thought he was a little too small.”

Zayac made his presence felt his sophomore year, however, and continued that through his junior year as he helped lead the Mustangs to 2023 co-championship in the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division.

The Mustangs moved up a level to the PAL’s De Anza Division for the 2024 season, the second-highest rung on the PAL ladder, and Zayac’s impact was immediately apparent.

“First play of the game against Sequoia, we put him in motion and the entire defense shifted with him,” Oca said.

Despite being the focus of opposing defenses, Zayac still managed to rush for more than 1,000 yards, added another nearly 200 yards receiving to go along with 17 touchdowns as he was named De Anza Division Offensive Player of the Year.

“I knew I had some pressure on me,” Zayac said. “But the team around me would take the pressure off me. My o-line are the people who made me look good.”

His presence helped the Mustangs to one of their most balanced offensive outputs, despite being known as a running team. Capuchino rushed for more than 2,000 yards as a team and also threw nearly 1,800 as the Mustangs went 8-2 and finished as co-champs of the De Anza Division before losing in the first round of the CCS Division III playoffs.

“As a decoy, he was huge. He knew that was part of the plan,” Oca said. “But there is no better teammate than Lucas Zayac. There would be times we’d call for him to get the ball and he’d give it to a teammate. He didn’t care.

“He is the ultimate teammate.”

But Zayac does have a burning desire to show that if given the right training and given a chance, he can excel at anything.

Why not give hoops a try?

Zayac had played basketball growing up, but nothing ever really seriously — played pickup games at recess or played rec ball, “where you get the ball and shoot it,” Zayac said. “(Playing basketball) was just to keep me entertained. … I was not the best at running plays, but if you wanted someone to give a hard foul, I’ll go out and do it.”

Like football, Zayac didn’t play organized basketball until he got to Capuchino and while he didn’t flourish in it like he did football, he was committed.

He was on track for a standard high school basketball career — two years on JV and two years on varsity. But an injury kept him out his junior season and when he came back for his senior year, he was told playing time could be sparse.

But that just motivated Zayac to improve his game. The Mustangs were just 9-16 on the year and 3-9 in the PAL’s Ocean Division, but Zayac had an impact. He appeared in 19 of the Mustangs’ 25 games, averaging 2.4 points and 1.9 rebounds and provided a spark off the bench.

“I like to go out and prove myself. Show them that I can play a little bit,” Zayac said. “I wanted to stay active and stay in shape for baseball, but my senior year I ended up loving (basketball). By the end of the year, I made a couple of starts. I got to thank all my (basketball) coaches and teammates for helping me out there. Taught me some good life lessons.”

Shining on the diamond

It’s the baseball field where Zayac really shines at a position that many people don’t gravitate to. But he wasn’t always a catcher. He had grown up as a shortstop before moving behind the plate in eighth grade.

Maybe his dad, Scott, knew what was coming. A longtime assistant with Wilson, Scott Zayac knew Lucas could come in a challenge for a starting spot right away. Wilson was already well aware of Zayac before he even got to the San Bruno campus.

“I saw him (playing) as a little kid, watching him grow up. … When he was 7 years old, his dad was coaching (with me). He’d bring him out and shag balls,” Wilson said. “He was a four-year varsity guy right out of the chute. We didn’t have a catcher (his freshman year). … He had caught before and defensively he’s the best catcher, by far.

“He was also one of my best infielders. … He could probably play any position.”

Again, Zayac was simply being an athlete.

“I never really had a catching coach,” Zayac said. “I would watch YouTube videos or go in the backyard with my dad. I guess you could say my dad was my catching coach.”

Zayac never had any real formal training as a catcher, but he knew the game well enough to make the transition as smooth as possible, which Wilson attributes to him growing up with the game.

“He was all business,” Wilson said. “I think that’s being around a baseball coach his whole life. Having that in your blood, it’s a plus.”

Zayac’s senior year was also his best on the baseball field. He batted a career-high .456, with 47 hits, 20 RBIs and 25 runs scored and an OPS of 1.084, all career bests as the Mustangs went 18-11 on the season and finished second in the PAL Bay Division with a 9-5 mark.

Like Oca, Wilson thought Zayac might be a bit too small to handle the rigors of varsity play as a freshman, but he proved he was up to the task.

“When you have the size of heart like Lucas, (size) doesn’t matter,” Wilson said. “If I could put him in a 6-foot-5 body, he would be getting drafted.”