After taking a four-year break from the gridiron, Vince Catano rolled back onto the football scene during his sophomore season at Mercer Island High School.
He played Cub football as a fifth-grader and then went the lacrosse route for several years. When COVID-19 hit, Catano returned to his football roots with hopes of improving his lacrosse game. However, he remained in the football realm by joining the Islander program and setting lacrosse aside.
Catano has been fully ingrained in football mode ever since and played his first year of varsity ball last season. At running back, he scored five touchdowns total and reeled off an 18-touch, 103-yard game during the Islanders’ 4-5 season. He earned 3A KingCo honorable-mention honors and was selected as the team’s junior of the year.
It’s now senior time for Catano, who will get moving at running back and play some safety as well this season.
Things have been looking and feeling good from the get-go.
“We had our jamboree and I could tell a difference in the first play on defense: Everything from the tackling just to how much better our schemes are from last year,” he said. “The coaches critique everything we do, so I think we’re going to be much better than we were last year.”
Catano — who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 167 pounds — has confidence in all of his teammates and received some wide holes to tote the ball through during the jamboree.
About finding some daylight throughout the mass of players and scoring twice at the jamboree, he said: “I love getting the ball. All that adrenaline I get, it’s amazing.”
Off the gridiron, Catano is drawn toward his marketing classes and may study business in college.
The Reporter asked Catano a series of questions to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his life:
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
When (players) get like a little ding or something like that and they pull themselves out. They don’t fight through it and they kind of just sit out when they don’t have to be sitting out.
What’s your favorite restaurant on Mercer Island?
Toshi’s Teriyaki.
What’s your most binge-worthy TV series?
“Breaking Bad,” for sure.
What would your dream job be?
I would say something involved with the NFL. I don’t really know where I’ll be, but I would want to be close to the players in some sort of way. Being in that environment.
What superpower would you like to have?
I think I’d like to teleport.
What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve ever been given?
I guess, as a younger athlete, just to put it all on the table now because it’s going to be over quite soon. You‘ve got to put 100 percent effort in while you can still play sports.
What type of music do you listen to?
I like house music a lot and then I like the rap, hip-hop, and, honestly, old music, too. Older music that, I guess, my parents listen to. Like “Roxanne” (The Police) and “Bad Boys, Bad Boys” (Inner Circle), all those types of songs, I love those songs.
