By Ryan Bisesi
rbisesi@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY – Clint Comadoll is a yes man to both his superiors. The bosses – be it football coach Joe Pinyan or soccer coach Matt Parrish – like that.
A state 2A champion midfielder in soccer and a standout linebacker in football, the 6-foot-4 junior is juggling both for the second straight fall and is malleable filling just about any role he needs to. Mainly, he’s a linebacker and one of the leading tacklers for the usually stout Salisbury defense. He’s been overshadowed a bit the last couple years by the likes of Kavari Hillie, William Brown and Travis Byrd but this season, Comadoll has been hard to miss. He’s a hit with coaches by doing whatever they need.
“Clint has been that one consistent factor on our defense,” Pinyan said. “The thing he doesn’t get credit for is he’s very unselfish.”
When punter John Mark Petty went down in the opener with a shoulder injury, Comadoll was there again stepping in as the punter for the first three games.
Two weeks ago, Comadoll was at three soccer games and Friday night, he trotted out for the football team’s game against West Rowan. Congestion and lingering injuries didn’t stop him.
“He wasn’t feeling well and both hamstrings were sore,” Pinyan said. “He still made plays for us all night long and didn’t want to come out of the game.”
He’s all over town on weekdays, driving over to soccer practice after school, then high-tailing it football practice when that’s done.
“The scary part is he’s just tapping into his resources because he spends half the day going to soccer,” Pinyan said.
Last Friday, Comadoll had a team-high 10 tackles in the 64-9 win at South Rowan. He had a sack and several tackles for loss. After Salisbury trailed 9-7 to start the second quarter, the Hornets shut out South and tacked on 57 unanswered points to head into the bye week at 2-2.
“I was just playing my position like I was supposed to,” Comadoll said.
Comadoll split time between jayvee and varsity his freshman year when the Hornets won the state title. He came on strong at the end of his sophomore season after moving from linebacker to defensive lineman. He had eight tackles in the second-round playoff win against Starmount.
He has put on about 10 pounds since last year to get to 190 to add to a long frame.
In the season’s second game against North Rowan, Comadoll got an important lesson in punting.
That lesson being stay poised no matter the sitation. In the second half with the Hornets holding a 13-7 lead and Comadoll back to punt on fourth down chaos ensued, The snap was over his head but he ran it down, gathering his composure and getting off a punt before getting whacked by a North defender. The Cavs ended up muffing the punt and Brian Bauk recovered it near midfield. The Hornets scored several plays later to take command.
“That was one of the crazier ones,” Comadoll said. “I just turned around for a second to see if there was anyone right behind me.”
Comadoll wants to continue double-dipping next year and enjoys the rush of being a two-sport contributor. His next football game is next Friday at Carson.
“When college comes, if I can get a scholarship in one that would be great,” Comadoll said. “I haven’t really chosen yet which one I like more.”