Potent Pair

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By Dan Schumerth, September 11, 2009

Purichia says he enjoys all music.

“My rarest music that I listen to that a lot of people probably don’t – especially at this age – is Disney music.

 

“I’m not afraid to try new things … I’m not really worried about myself in other peoples’ eyes.”

 

While the 21-year-old cannot name a favorite song, he prefers the soundtracks to Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. 

 

In addition to listening to music, Purichia spends his free time playing video games. While he admittedly is not the best at games like Halo, sports games like NCAA and Madden are all him.

 

The sports theme carries over to the rest of his life, as well.

 “I pretty much grew up on sports,” Purichia said. “I actually got the rare opportunity to watch my dad play college football.”

 

While the Indianapolis native – who now has a college football career of his own at Franklin – was too young to remember the experience, he did learn from his father on the athletic field throughout his childhood.

 

Purichia says that his father coached him in little league and even took a coaching job at Ritter high school, where he would coach his son for four more years.

 

But the two did not allow the coach-player relationship to ruin their father-son relationship.

“We have fun together and enjoy a lot of the same things,” Purichia said. “Whatever happens on the field, we never really brought it home with us.”

 

While his favorite sports memory came on the gridiron – winning the State Semi-finals – he also played baseball and three years of basketball in high school. He says that one year of soccer as a child was enough to realize it was not his sport.

 

Purichia’s junior season at Franklin offers a new challenge, though.  He and junior Kyle Ray will be taking over the quarterback position for graduated All-American, Chad Rupp.

“Seeing him play on Saturdays was unbelievable from like a backup standpoint,” Purichia said. “It’s definitely a lot of big shoes to fill … I wouldn’t say it’s a lot of pressure, but you definitely have to live up to somebody that you know was probably the best this school’s ever had.”

 

Purichia, who did not move to the quarterback position until his sophomore year of high school, has never played in a two-quarterback system before this season.

 

While he has no specific individual goals other than to “contribute any way possible to a win,” Purichia said his goals for the team include winning the HCAC as well as winning games in the playoffs.

 

Off the field, Purichia’s goals include making the Dean’s List, to which he has come close a few times. The secondary education major also plans to graduate on time and teach high school English, along with coaching football. He has found he enjoys teaching high school seniors more than younger students and is currently student teaching at Shelbyville High School.

 

In this sense, he is once again following in the footsteps of his parents. Vince and Karen Purichia were both teachers, English and gym, respectively.

 

“I want to get into teaching and coaching pretty much because of them,” Purichia said.

In addition to being close to his parents, Purichia says he also has close relationships with his four siblings, of which he is the oldest. The family even travels to see him play football.

 

“Dad and them packed the car and came up to Cleveland for tour game this weekend,” Purichia said.

 

He has two sisters – Kayla (14) and Jenna (9) – and two brothers – Jake (13) and Luke (3). According to Purichia, they all share an interest in sports.

 

Other than Dan Marino, who he respected for his ability at the quarterback position, Purichia has always looked up to his grandfather. Having spent a lot of time with his grandparents as a child, he said his Grandfather was the closest thing to a “perfect person” that he has found. In addition to referencing his grandfather’s tendency to wake up at the crack of dawn and always attend church, Purichia called him the “most patient, considerate man I’ve ever met.”

 

In his 21 years of life, Purichia only recalls seeing his grandfather mad twice, despite consistently babysitting for and spending time with all of his 21 grandchildren.

 

“As far as like going out and being goofy, I’m a weird guy,” Purichia said.