Any way you slice it, ‘Cheese’ has become a main dish at Exeter

(Editor’s note: Anthony Caccese committed the the University of Delaware Aug. 12.)

When he first began playing football, Anthony Caccese, along with teammate Joey Schlaffer, towered over the rest of the kids. He looked older than his age and people expected a lot of him.

He wasn’t as sure.

He hoped he could play at a higher level, maybe even in college, but wondered: “Can I really go do this? Can I get it done?”

“They expect you to be at another level (when you’re bigger),” said the 6-6, 280-pound Exeter tackle. “You can be huge, but if you don’t put in the work and get that mobility and speed, (that) physicality, you’re not going to be as good. That makes the big difference.”

It all began to click for Caccese last season. He developed the “mean streak” Matt Bauer and the other Exeter coaches had been waiting to see.

“I played with with more aggression than I ever did before,” said the rising senior. “I was more into it. More excited for every game. Trying my hardest on every snap. When you’re on the field, you’ve got to flip the switch.”

Caccese is even-keeled and unassuming by nature but when he looked around the huddle and saw top-shelf players such as Schlaffer, Ty Yocum, J.R. Strauss and Colin Payne he understood he was on a team that could do things in the playoffs. That excited him.

“I (gained) a lot of confidence in myself after my sophomore year, after I put in some work and got bigger,” he said. “And, with our team, I knew we could take it far, so I wanted to be as good as I could; I wanted to contribute as much as possible.”

Caccese earned all-league honors for the second straight season and helped the Eagles knock off Gov. Mifflin to win their first district football championship.

College coaches noticed. In the six months since that stunning 31-28 victory over the state’s top-ranked team Caccese has received 20 scholarship offers. The first came from Yale, in mid February. The intensity picked up a month ago when he received half-a-dozen offers in a two-week span, from schools such as Richmond, Rhode Island and Albany. Earlier this month Cornell and Buffalo offered.

It’s no surprise to learn that he has a 3.7 GPA when you see schools such as Columbia, Delaware, Lehigh, Fordham and Bucknell among his list of suitors.

The first offer still resonates with him.

“That was mind-blowing,” Caccese said. “I was so excited. I was like: ‘I can’t believe this is really happening.’ It’s a dream.”

He’s starting to sort through his list and hopes to narrow it down to a half-a-dozen or so. As he does he’s still hoping to add a few more choices. He heads to a prospect camp at Maryland Friday hoping to turn more heads.

“I’m trying to break into the next level,” he said, still holding out hope for an offer from one of the Power Five conferences.

He’s done everything he can to catch some eyeballs, attending camps at Syracuse, Connecticut and Temple. He’s competed twice at Penn State.

“I love playing against (top) competition,” he said. “That’s how you get better. I love playing (against) people better than me. It definitely makes me a better player.”

He’s still relatively lean — Bauer says he can easily add 40 or 50 pounds to his frame once he’s in college. When he faces bigger guys — as he does at top camps — he knows proper technique is critical.

“When you’re doing 1-v-1’s (at camps), you have to have technique, you can’t just out-muscle some guys,” he said. “These are all big, fast dudes, so you have to have good technique. (That has) really helped me.”

One reason college coaches like Caccese so much is his mobility. Even at his size he displays good footwork.

That helped him in basketball, where he emerged as one of the top centers and most improved players in the Berks Conference last season. By the end of the season he was a dominant force, posting double-doubles and helping the Eagles reach the league semifinals and PIAA Tournament.

He scored a career-high 19 points in a Berks quarterfinal win at Wilson, matched it with 19 points in the District 3 Class 5A opener at Milton Hershey, then went out with a bang, going for 16 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots in a loss at Chester in the state opener.

“(Anthony) plays his best when the (bright) lights are on in the big-time games,” Eagles basketball coach Matt Ashcroft said after a big playoff win. “He did it in the fall (during the football playoff run) and he’s doing it again now.”

Bauer believes the best is yet to come.

“His upside is tremendous,” Bauer said. “He definitely came into his own (last) year. If you watch the film from Week 1 vs. Central York to Week 15 vs. Penn Trafford, the leaps and bounds he made were very impressive.

“He really started developing a little bit of a mean streak down the stretch. You could see him finishing guys, and going to the next level (of the defense to make blocks). That just came with time, and confidence.”

Caccese’s teammates call him “Cheese,” a reference to his last name, which many mispronounce. (It’s “Kuh-CHAY-zee,” not “Kuh-cheesy.”)

Now that he’s taken his game to a new level, perhaps he’s due a nickname upgrade: “Big Cheese” seems appropriate.

He’ll be counted on for bigger things this season — he’ll go full-time at defensive tackle, after playing part-time there in 2021 — as the Eagles challenge Manheim Central, Warwick and Gov. Mifflin in Section 2 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League.

The Eagles are re-loading after losing Payne, their starting quarterback; their rock ’em, sock ’em linebacking duo of Strauss and Yocum; record-setting running back Eric Nangle, who went for over 1,800 yards last season; and offensive linemen Kyle Helm and Sam Orzolek.

Nangle profited from running behind the league’s top offensive line, which included returning guards Lucas Palange and Kyle Lash.

“It all starts with the O-line,” said Caccese. “We’ve got some good guys coming in, (rising juniors) Ryan and Matt McConnell. They’re ready to step up.”