MINERSVILLE — It’s not unusual to see soccer players on the pitch on Wednesday and on the gridiron on Friday night. Throughout the Schuylkill League, football teams will often look towards the school’s soccer programs to find their kicker.
But to find a soccer player who not only kicks on Friday night, but plays both ways? Now that’s rare.
But that’s exactly what Minersville’s Jordan Bowers is doing this fall.
The soccer star — who earlier this week broke Minersville’s school record of 101 career goals — is not only kicking for the Battlin’ Miners this fall, but he’s also playing wide receiver and defensive back.
The results?
Offensively, Bowers has 15 receptions for 240 yards and three touchdowns, and has totaled 575 all-purpose yards. Defensively, he has 10 tackles and leads the Schuylkill League with five interceptions, picking off at least one pass in four of the first five games of the season.
He’s also 3-for-4 in field goal opportunities with a long of 52 yards, and has made all nine extra point attempts.
“He’s such a natural talent,” Minersville football coach Justin Frantz said. “He runs very good routes, he knows how to get off the line of scrimmage if people try and press him, and he knows how to kind of do his own thing—which he all learned from soccer. You see all that stuff on the soccer field. On defense, his skills are unreal for a kid who’s just starting. He goes up and gets the ball—a kid who’s 6-foot-4 with that kind of jump. He’s got really good ball skills and just understands the game. For a kid who’s only been playing it for a couple of months, it just shows you how special of an athlete he is.”
Learning the positions
While Bowers was part of the Minersville football team each of the last few years, it wasn’t until this summer that he decided he wanted to try his hand at playing receiver and defensive back.
“He’s kicked for us the past couple of years,” Frantz said. “This year he came to us and asked if he could play receiver and defense. When you have an athlete that is as phenomenal as he is, you don’t want to say no. He’s worked super hard at it. He was out all summer learning how to play both positions.”
It of course wasn’t as easy as Frantz just saying yes to Bowers.
Before they went forward with Jordan playing offense and defense for the Battlin’ Miners, Frantz had to discuss the idea with both Jordan’s parents and soccer coach Ed Burke.
“The first thing I said to him was we had to talk to his parents and soccer coach, ” Frantz said. “You’ve got to make sure everybody’s on the same page, and they couldn’t have been any more supportive. They were all on board with it. I didn’t want to do anything that could hurt the kid in that sport to get his records, but I was excited to have a kid of his caliber that wanted to do stuff for us.”
Once given the green light, Bowers immediately got to work on learning the playbook, spending the entire summer learning how to be a wide receiver, running route trees, and working on his footwork as a defensive back.
“It is pretty challenging,” Bowers noted about the transition into becoming a two-way starter for Minersville. “It’s one of my first years actually playing wide receiver and having to know offenses and defenses. But the coaching staff behind both teams is incredible. They communicate with me so well. Anytime I have questions on any offensive or defensive stuff we’re doing over that week, they’re always sure to let me know right away. Even right after practice if I don’t ask, they communicate very well with me. It’s awesome to have that.”
“His work ethic is top-notch,” Frantz said. “There’s been times where Coach Burke and myself have both basically had to tell him to take it easy. We’ve had him just sit and watch and do more mental stuff than physical because you just want to get the kids as much rest as you can.”
Balancing act
That partnership between Frantz and Burke this fall has been key for both. The two coaches talk regularly about the upcoming schedules for both teams and Jordan’s availability.
“One of the biggest things is just working with the soccer team,” Frantz said. “We talk pretty much every weekend on which days we prefer he’s there and which days not, so we go back and forth. But we work really well together. When he’s here, he’s all in on football, and when he’s there, he’s all in on soccer. You can’t ask for much more.”
For Bowers, prioritizing is easy.
“Anytime I don’t have a soccer game, I prioritize football,’ he said. “I’ll be going to football practices when I don’t have soccer games. Usually a day before a big soccer game, I’m going to go to that soccer practice just to make sure everyone’s mentally there, start off a good practice the day before, and make sure everyone has energy.”
Despite having a heavy focus at times on football throughout the fall, Bowers has not slowed down on the pitch — both in the box score and as a team leader.
“He’s fantastic,” Burke said about Bowers. “He’s very coachable. His accomplishments certainly come from his hard work, but it couldn’t happen for a nicer guy. On and off the field, he’s a great leader, he’s a good mentor, he’s a gentleman, and I’m just very proud of all he does.”
Coming into this week, Bowers was the Schuylkill League’s leader in overall points (64), goals (26), and assists (12).
“His soccer IQ is very high,” Burke added. “There’s a lot of players where this one has speed, this one has skill — his ability to read situations is off the charts. Of course the talent is there, but just his ability to motivate the players around him and set a tone… he demands work ethic from them. He makes sure that they fall in line with work ethic.”
While playing two sports in one season as physically demanding as soccer and football could quickly burn out even the best of athletes, Burke notes that Bowers’ mindset throughout the process is what has led him to his success.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete, and I think the core of it is he decided to do both. He committed to both,” Burke said. “He’s handled his duties for both teams well…He doesn’t give any less than 100%, and that includes practices.”
Playing two sports has also meant Bowers has to look after himself physically in his rare downtime.
“I played a lot of sports my whole life, so I feel like my body’s used to it,” he said. “But just recovering, I actually have a pool at my house that I use for cold and ice. My parents are the best — they just support me with everything and make possibilities for me. I actually have leg recovery (sleeves) that I use for games and practices to benefit myself.”
Setting a trend
Bowers is also not the only Battlin’ Miner pulling double duty this fall, as he’s joined by fellow senior teammate Cam Rogers.
“I think Jordan convinced Cam to come out and play football his senior year,” Frantz said. “Between the two of them, they’re probably the two best soccer players in the county. Cam came over to play some receiver, and after about two weeks, he asked if he could play defense, too. The two have been our starting corners since heat acclimation.”
Rogers this season has recorded 12 receptions for 166 yards and a touchdown on offense while also totaling 17 tackles and two pass deflections on defense.
“Never having played football before, all they want to do is learn,” he added. “They’re always interested in learning and doing, and they give everything they have every play.”
While Schuylkill County doesn’t see as much single-sport specialization as other areas across the commonwealth and country do, two star soccer players also playing on Friday nights is still rare.
Frantz hopes that Bowers, Rogers, and others across the Schuylkill League help inspire up-and-coming athletes to continue to play multiple sports.
“I think we’re seeing more and more of kids wanting to play one sport 12 months out of the year, which, if you look at the MLB, NFL, and NBA players, all of them played two or three sports growing up,” Frantz said. “Kids playing multiple sports is awesome. It gives your body a break so you’re not working the same muscles all year round.”
Ultimately Frantz’s biggest source of pride in Bowers and Rogers doesn’t come from them playing both sports at a high level this fall but instead, that they are performing at high levels on the field, but also in the classroom.
“The big thing is the two of them are dominating in soccer, playing every down for us, and still killing it in school,” he said. “They don’t miss days, and they do their work. It’s great to see, and hopefully the younger kids around the area are looking at it and seeing it’s possible to not just play one sport 12 months out of the year and still kill it in whatever you’re doing.”
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