BC’s Petrula at center of reunion
As a high school guard in New Jersey, Boston College freshman center Ben Petrula forged a protective pact with Notre Dame quarterback Brandon Wimbush.
Petrula began fashioning a similar trust with BC redshirt freshman quarterback Anthony Brown in last Saturday’s 34-10 loss to Wake Forest.
Petrula will see his past and present competing on the same field Saturday when BC hosts rival Notre Dame in a nonconference clash at Alumni Stadium.
Petrula was the starting left guard at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, N.J., when Wimbush guided the Marauders to the 2014 non-public Group 4 state championship.
“Brandon is an explosive player and a really good kid and was a really great leader for St. Peter’s when I was there,” Petrula said yesterday. “It will be awesome to play against him for the first time. He was a leader for me as a young guy starting for the first time. That was his year to shine, and we won a state championship with him as a senior.
“Like any other development on the field, you need mutual trust that you won’t let each other down. You could count on him to make plays, and he could count on me to protect him, and that is how it went.”
The ND-BC game will be a St. Peter’s reunion, too. Eagles senior wide receiver and offensive captain Charlie Callinan and redshirt junior tailback Jon Hilliman played with Wimbush at SPP.
Petrula was rightly qualified to travel the St. Peter’s pipeline to Chestnut Hill. The 6-foot-5, 300-pound Petrula was an NJ.com first-team all-state selection at left tackle his senior year and helped clear the way for an offense that registered nearly 3,000 rushing yards in 2016.
“Coach (Rich) Hansen was really a big part of me choosing BC,” Petrula said. “I know it is a great school, and the Jesuit ideals match up with St. Peter’s and Boston College.”
Petrula enjoyed a productive rookie camp and emerged as the backup at two positions on a front with four returning starters. He showed the versatility to play either tackle or guard but never expected to find himself at center. That began falling into place three weeks ago when backup center Shane Leonard of Marshfield went down with an undisclosed injury.
BC’s line was governed by senior center Jon Baker of Millis, who started 27 consecutive games and was elected a co-captain. But Baker tore his right ACL at Northern Illinois in the season opener despite playing all but one of the Eagles’ 92 offensive snaps.
When Baker learned the diagnosis, he took a medical redshirt. BC coach Steve Addazio’s best option was to move Petrula to center, a position he played for the first time last week.
“He was slotted to be the sixth and seventh linemen as a tackle,” Addazio said of Petrula. “He’s a talented guy who had a really great camp and ... we lost two centers, bang, bang. We had to go to the next guy, and the next-best offensive lineman was Ben. We are getting ready to play some big men in there, and we need to get a big man in there ready to go.”