SUNBURY -- For some players, Friday night's South Williamsport Lions Club District 4 All-Star football game is the last competitive football game they will ever play.
For Southern Columbia graduate Nich Gallinot, Friday night's game at Rodney K. Morgans Stadium will be the last time he puts on shoulder pads, but it won't be the last time he dons a uniform.
Gallinot, who mostly played linebacker for the five-time defending Class A state champion Tigers, heads to Parris Island, S.C., on July 17 to join the Marine Corps.
"It's always been in the back of my mind (to join the military). I always wanted to do something intense like the military. I was thinking college football, too, for a while," Gallinot said before Monday night's South team practice at Shikellamy High School. "It was kind of a toss-up between the two. I just figured I might not get the chance to do this again. If I got hurt in college football, I might not be able to join later, so I figured I'd do it when I had the opportunity."
The current world situation didn't really enter Gallinot's mind when he made his decision, but he feels it helps justify it.
"I think it adds to the honor of joining the military, since our country is in a state of war right now," Gallinot said. "It exemplifies that I'm going in for a good reason and not just going in for money or college or any of those reasons."
The Tigers' linebacker also believes he's fully prepared to enter the military, thanks to his football experience at Southern Columbia.
"Playing for Southern, we're a very disciplined team and it's such a prestigious program, it's just like going into the Marine Corps. It's something you want to a part of and something you're proud to be a part of," Gallinot said. "I'll be able to endure the physical and the mental part of (basic training) because I want to be part of the Marine Corps like I was a part of Southern Columbia football."
He's been training since the end of football season for basic training. For example, Gallinot was a sprinter on the track team for the first three years of high school, but this season, he made his debut as a distance runner for the track team.
"I was always a sprinter. (The) 200 would be a long distance for me, but I ran the mile this year and did the two-mile once, too," Gallinot said. "I've been doing a lot of long-distance running, a lot of pull-ups, all the stuff that I'm going to have to do in basic training. I've just been doing all the stuff I'll get tested on down at basic training. It's a lot of high repetition stuff."
Gallinot is interested to see how his preparation for basic training will affect his football this week.
"The training I'm doing is completely different from what I would do for football," Gallinot said. "I haven't been doing the short-burst stuff I did to train for football."
But, Gallinot is taking advantage of his final chance to play football.
"It's fun that I get this one last chance to do something fun like this before I head out," Gallinot said.
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High school football: Southern Columbia's Gallinot plays in final high school game Friday
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