ACA football stars Summers, Ortiz to play at next level
Alabama Christian’s Tyson Summers and David Ortiz signed scholarships with Huntingdon and Berry College, respectively. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Alabama Christian Academy held a signing ceremony on Thursday for a pair of football players who plan to continue their playing careers at Division III schools.
Placekicker Tyson Summers will remain in town and play for Huntingdon College, while tailback David Ortiz-Ramirez will travel to Rome, Ga., to play for Berry College.
“It’s awesome,” Summers said. “I’m really excited to be a part of the team and the program at Huntingdon. I love the coaching staff and I’ve already met a bunch of the players in my class and I’m really excited to get started.”
“It’s been a dream,” Ortiz-Ramirez said. “I didn’t really ever think about (a signing day ceremony), but now that it’s happening, it’s all hitting me. It’s pretty good.”
Both players had to overcome obstacles to play at the collegiate level. For Summers, major surgery his sophomore year threatened to derail his dream.
“My freshman year, I wanted to be a kicker in college, that was my goal,” he said. “After all the injuries and stuff, I didn’t know if it was going to happen. Being here today, I am just so grateful that God gave me this opportunity and got me through those injuries. Without Him and all the ‘PT’ (trainers) that I worked with and my parents and all my friends, there’s no way I would be here today. So I’m just grateful.”
For Ortiz-Ramirez, the undersized running back from a small high school program had to convince college coaches he could play at the next level.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment ever since I’ve been putting the work in,” he said. “It’s just an exciting moment. One of their coaches, (running backs) Coach (CaTerius) Hinton, called me in the summer and wanted to bring me down for a visit. When I came to the campus, I knew that was the place I wanted to go.”
Others may have had their doubts, but ACA coach Michael Summers knew both would have the opportunity to play at the next level.
Ortiz-Ramirez, he said, would get the opportunity because of his work ethic.
“You can’t measure heart, you can’t measure mindset,” Michael Summers said. “The kid’s got an elite mindset. The kid doesn’t go 50 percent ever. We always have to watch his hydration because the kid goes hard in practice, he goes hard in the game. There’s value in that.”
He was just as proud of his son’s ability to recover from his injury and receive an opportunity to play for Mike Turk’s Hawks.
“With Tyson, the trajectory was higher, but we never got back to full strength (after his surgery),” Michael Summers said. “He tore his hip labrum in the spring playing outside linebacker. He had surgery in June and was kicking Sept. 1. Really, what Huntingdon wants him to do is kickoffs. They’re going to carry a field goal kicker, a punter and a kickoff guy and they’ve challenged him to win the kickoff spot.”
Both teams have faced each other the last two years with Berry winning both meetings and they have met in the Division III playoffs as well.
“Maybe we’ll get to see these two play each other,” Michael Summers said. “I told (Tyson) if you don’t do your job and put it in the end zone, you’re going to have to tackle (Ortiz-Ramirez). Good luck.”