HOUGH, PANTELIS BOAST RARE SKILLS
An attention seeker, David Pantelis is not.
He won’t hide from attention, but in interviews with media, Pantelis will often suggest talking to an Upper St. Clair teammate who he believes deserves accolades. Then there is Pantelis’ Twitter account, which shows he rarely tweets. Heck, he lets his older brother handle his Twitter account most of the time.
But while Pantelis might not seek attention, his football talent and overall athletic ability demand it. At Upper St. Clair, he is David Excelis.
“His instinctive ability for the ball, whether it’s football or basketball, is something I’ve never seen before.”
That comment comes from Upper St. Clair basketball coach Danny Holzer — and basketball is not even Pantelis’ No. 1 sport. Pantelis is good on the hardwood, averaging 10 points and four steals for Upper St. Clair last season. But football is where Pantelis shines the most — and where he has earned the most attention. A 6-foot-1, 182-pound senior receiver-defensive back, Pantelis should be one of the WPIAL’s best two-way players this year.
A year ago, he was second in the WPIAL in regular-season receptions with 69 for 1,135 yards. Counting playoffs, he finished with 77 catches for 1,169 yards. This came after a sophomore year when he had 38 receptions for 548 yards.
“He has the best ball skills of anyone that I’ve coached,” Upper St. Clair football coach Mike Junko said. “He’ll get to balls and bring down balls that most kids find a way not to catch. He finds a way to catch them and he does it in both sports.
“I’ve watched him play basketball and say, ‘How did he make that steal?’ Then you find yourself in football saying, ‘How did he make that catch?’ It’s fun for us because he does it in practice every day.”
Pantelis’ football abilities have grabbed the attention of FBS colleges. He has a scholarship offer from one Power Five conference school (Wake Forest), but also has offers from Navy and Army. A few Ivy League schools also want him. Junko and some other coaches around the WPIAL believe Pantelis is worth more scholarship offers, especially if he has another stellar season.
But even if more scholarship offers come, just don’t expect Pantelis to spout off about them much on social media, which is unlike many high school athletes these days.
“I just don’t like to tweet stuff much,” Pantelis said. “I know in this day and age maybe you should, just so you might get recruited more. But I went to visit Pitt and West Virginia and all my buddies were telling me to tweet something out about it. I never did. Maybe I should’ve. But I just don’t feel a need to brag about things like that.”
Considering Pantelis’ attitude, Junko describes him as a “throwback.”
“He’s a very unselfish guy who is loved by his teammates and coaches,” Junko said. “He’s got this smile that is infectious and personality that seems to endear him to everybody he is around. He is unassuming. We had to beg him in the spring to put some of his highlights out on Twitter, just so college coaches who might come by would see his film.
“But it’s not in his DNA or personality to do things like that. That makes him a throwback in that regard. In this day and age, so many athletes use the social media thing to bring attention to themselves. He does the opposite.”
Sports have always been a big part of Pantelis’ life. It’s often said that today’s kids don’t play sports by themselves any more, whether on playgrounds or in their backyard. Not Pantelis. He grew up trying just about every sport, with his brother, Chris, by his side. Chris is a 2019 Upper St. Clair graduate who led the football team in receptions in 2018 with 41.
It’s those early days that helped form Pantelis’ athletic base for the future.
“Football, basketball, baseball, soccer. You name it, we played it. Lacrosse and hockey, too,” said David Pantelis, who also has a twin sister, Alexandra. “We would break windows here and there playing, too. We’d usually go in the street and play. I remember getting bunches of people together to play hockey. We’d play Wiffle ball in driveways and get screamed at by neighbors.
“To this day, I’ll still go to Mt. Lebanon, South Park, South Fayette … wherever just to play a pickup game.”
In his younger years, basketball was Pantelis’ favorite sport and he used to think his future was on the hardwood. He played on AAU teams with some wellknown WPIAL players from other schools — Zach Rocco (Penn-Trafford), Michael Carmody (Mars), Devin Carney (Butler), Mattix Clement (Butler) and Khalil Dinkins (North Allegheny).
“This might sound crazy, but when he came to my basketball camp as a third grader, you could just tell he was so fast and athletic,” Holzer said.
Upper St. Clair is expected to have excellent teams in football and basketball this year. Pantelis is one of the reasons. Holzer marvels at Pantelis’ work ethic in both sports. Since late June, Pantelis has spent a number of days every week going to a football team workout in the morning for a few hours — and then going immediately to a basketball team workout for more than an hour.
“And he never looks tired,” Holzer said. “He seems like he could just run forever.”
Pantelis will be used a little differently by Upper St. Clair’s football team this season. He will still play receiver, and he and quarterback Ethan Dahlem could once again be a terrific passcatch combo. But on defense, Pantelis has been moved from cornerback to free safety. One of the reasons is he will have more of a chance to use that rare ballfinding ability. Junko believes Pantelis could find himself getting more scholarship offers.
“I think his upside is tremendous,” Junko said. “Wake Forest had him No. 1 on their recruiting board and they’re a Power Five conference team. Offensively, they’re very much like us and they were blown away with what they saw of him on film. If he adds to his resume this year, there will certainly be many more opportunities for him in many different places.
“He’s gotten a whole lot stronger and his body has transformed. He’s got speed, he’s a tremendous route runner and he has fantastic ball skills. He’s also a very intelligent kid. How can’t you be excited about a kid like that?”