Lukas Borba poses with his team after leading the Eagles past the Washington Huskies. On October 16 American beat Washington to claim Fremont Blvd. (PC: Sanika Gavankar)
Senior Lukas Borba shares what it takes to perform at the highest level of three sports
Shawn Rocha
Staff Writer
If you follow sports here at American High School I’d bet money that you have heard of the name, “Lukas Borba”.
It’s October 2015. Junior Lukas Borba prepares to lead his Eagles to victory. This is not any ordinary game for Lukas—this is the Battle the Boulevards, the school’s annual rivalry game against the Washington Huskies.
Knowing that what he does in the next 60 minutes will likely exemplify his whole high school career, the first year quarterback decides to let it fly, launching the football down field.
“The defining play in my high school career was Battle the Boulevards,” Borba said. “[It was] the first play I threw for 80 yards.”
That astonishing play was just one of many in Borba’s repertoire. By his senior year, Borba was way more than just the Eagles’ signal caller. You could find him in centerfield, tracking down long fly balls playing a sport called baseball, playing forward, perfectly placing balls in the back of the net playing a sport known as soccer or even booting the football to the opposing team on a kickoff.
The versatile athlete did not just casually play for American’s baseball, football, and soccer varsity teams—he thrived on them. On the pitch, Lukas scored three goals in seven matches his junior year (MaxPreps). At the plate, the story stayed the same as he maintained an impressive 0.375 batting average during his senior campaign (MaxPreps). And, well as for his football totals, Lukas did a little bit of everything: catching, throwing, and running for touchdowns. It did not matter what field he played on, Borba was determined and willing to sacrifice anything for success.
“My biggest motivation is to play for all the people who thought I would never be good enough and prove them wrong,” Borba said.
With any stellar athlete also comes a stellar supporting cast. When asked about his number one supporters, Borba attributed it all to his mother and coaching staff. Going on to say that they helped him off and on the field in any circumstance.
Although Borba will have to trade all three of his jerseys in at the end of the year, he says his journey is not complete. Next year number seven plans on playing football for Chabot College.
“The benefits of playing all three sports are meeting new friends and learning the different ways of each coach,” Borba said. “I would say all my hard work playing sports did pay off because of how it has shaped me.”
Eagle Era 