On February 7, senior Christian Petruzzello signed his National Letter of Intent to  play football at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The Bucknell Bison’s are a NCAA Division I football team.

Petruzzello has been playing on Linganore’s varsity football team for three years, where he had the opportunity to go to states twice, during his sophomore and senior years. Petruzzello said his favorite memory with the team was “probably running out with our team at the state championship my sophomore and senior year.” 

Linganore’s head football coach Richard Conner only had positive things to say about Petruzzello. 

“This quarterback has been one of the best since I’ve been here in the last 22 years,” said Conner. 

Conner shared that Petruzzello has thrown for 1,648 yards, 18 touchdowns and rushed for 564 yards during his senior season alone.

“He really became a dual threat as a runner and a thrower,” said Conner. “He’s gonna do great things. I can’t wait to go up there [Bucknell] and see a game.”

Petruzzello’s dad, Jim Petruzzello, shared that Christian has had a drive to play football at a high level since his childhood.

“From a very young age, he figured out how to get to the division one level,” said Jim Petruzzello. “We just kinda supported [and] took him where he said he needed to go.”

Petruzzello will be majoring in political science when he goes to Bucknell. His mom, Michelle Petruzzello, believes the school would be helpful in developing his character for after football.

“When we met with the coaching staff, one of the questions that they asked Christian is where does he see himself going in life and what does he wanna do beyond football,” said Michelle Petruzzello. “So, they had an interest in developing him as an athlete, obviously, but actually also as a person.” 

Although Petruzzello made his final decision to go to Bucknell, the D1 athlete had offers from many other schools including Delaware State and Saint Francis University, both of which are D1 football schools.

“When it came down to my decision, it was the coaches,” said Petruzzello. “I feel like it was a really great school and I feel like it set me up for life a little bit.”