Fortkamp aiming for playoffs, college opportunities

Chase Fortkamp has already missed the summer before his senior year because of the novel coronavirus.

With the season on the doorstep, the multi-faceted captain of the Wickliffe football team is doing everything he can to make sure the season happens.

“Oh yeah, me and Mason (Bala) were captains last year, too,” Fortkamp said. “We’ve been telling everybody else, ‘Don’t go out to parties. Don’t go out where there are big groups. Keep it close with your family.’

“Going out and doing stuff like that is what is going to prevent us from having a season.”

Wickliffe returns all but a handful of seniors from a 2019 team that went 6-4. The entire starting offensive line is back, as is quarterback Bala and running back Isaiah Bolon.

But if you ask anyone in the know about what — or who — the 2020 Wickliffe Blue Devils hang their hat on, it’s Chase Fortkamp.

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound do-it-all senior is gathering a solid list of potential college suitors.

“He’s definitely one of the best I’ve ever coached,” said Coach Marce Porcello. “The thing about him is he’s so versatile. He can play a variety of positions — offense, defense, special teams — and he does them all at a high level.”

As a junior, Fortkamp ran for 1,043 yards and 16 touchdowns as a fullback

on offense. Defensively, he piled up 96 tackles and was named second team AllOhio in Division V.

But the Blue Devils missed the playoffs for the first time in four years. And that sticks in the craw of Fortkamp and his teammates.

“My brother Justin played here. I’ve looked up to him my whole life,” Fortkamp said. “His senior year — I was in eighth grade — was the first time they had been to the playoffs in a long time. That motivated me.

“Missing the playoffs last year hurt all of us. We’re fighting to get back in the playoffs this season.”

Fortkamp isn’t only fighting to get the Blue Devils back in the playoffs,

he’s fighting for college exposure.

With the first day of practice set for Aug. 1, Fortkamp has scholarship offers from Kent State, Army, Lake Erie College and Tiffin. Mount Union, which is Division III and can’t offer athletic scholarships, also wants Fortkamp.

Notre Dame College and Bucknell have also expressed interest, but have yet to offer scholarships.

“I need to step up this year and put my name out there,” he said. “I didn’t go to any camps this summer. They all got canceled. So I need to step up and get my name out there.”

COVID-19 didn’t slow down his work ethic. Fortkamp has been working out at his cousin’s house, where

there are weights to work with. He is bench-pressing 325 pounds, squatting 455 pounds and has trimmed his 40-yard-dash time to 4.51.

Now all he wants is a season, both to increase his college prospects and to help lead the Blue Devils back to a postseason slot that evaded them last year.

“Richmond Heights doesn’t have football this year, so that means we only have nine games,” Fortkamp said. “Some of us seniors have been in a group chat, and we feel we have the potential to go 9-0 this year. Then one game at a time in the playoffs. That’s our goal and we’re going to do everything we can to do that.”