Bishop Guertin's Rocco Geraci is the anchor to the Cardinals offensive line. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Pancakes are his favorite.

Not just the food, but in football as well.

You see, a “pancake” in football is when an offensive lineman knocks a defensive player flat. Rocco Geraci has had enough of those for Bishop Guertin High School to open his own breakfast restaurant.

“I love just bringing someone to the ground,” he said. “Just dominating.”

“Rocco, he’s a pancake machine on offense,” Guertin head coach John Trisciani said. “And the other guys are following him, too. He’s finishing bocks, I see him late, he’s on top of a guy, or too the whistle 10 yards down the field. And it’s contagious.

“I love Rocco. He’s a big piece of what we have in building the program.”

Geraci, who grew up in Dracut before the family moved to Haverhill, Mass. before the began playing when he was around 5 years old.

“I always was a physical kid, and I used to wrestle when I was young, so any contact sport I fell in love with,” he said. “Just the game itself, watching college, pro, something I fell in love with.”

And he was always bigger than the other kids – Geraci is 5-11, 300 pounds now – so he’s always been a lineman.

“I really couldn’t play much anywhere else, because of my build,” he said.

But Geraci never thought he’d be a big lineman, saying it’s been a natural growth, aided only by his weightlifting and conditioning work.

What don’t we know about playing the line?

“I guess one thing is you have to be a lot more agile and athletic than you think,” Geraci said. “Especially with the outside zone plays, counter plays, being able to run down the other side of the line, or running outside to catch a block.

“I’d say it’s a lot more athletic position than you think, but at the same time you have to be that big fat guy who’s going to block for your running back.”

Geraci said to get that athletic edge he did a lot of agility drills, especially in the summer, plus conditioning work via the coaches.

“We might think it’s bad at the time,” he grinned, “but it really does help.”

The rest he said for him is his “luck and his DNA”.

Geraci’s dad played football as a lineman at Littleton High School, so it’s definitely in his DNA. While playing in Dracut, a lot of his friends were leaving the youth football program and the coaches he liked were retiring. In his seventh and eighth grade year, one of his father’s CPA clients was a Nashua PAL coach, and that option worked and eventually led to Guertin.. Plus, his sister, graduated from BG in 2018, “and I saw her experience and her growth. Since I didn’t want to stay in Dracut, I decided to follow the same path.”

Plus it helped that several current Cardinals, such as Charlie Bellavance, played with him at PAL and all those connections, as he said, “turned out in my favor.”

And Guertin’s. Geraci said the competition was different for him at BG, as he came in as one of the bigger players in his class, but he was in amazement when he saw the senior linemen.

“I said to myself I’d never be that big, how strong and physical they were,” Geraci said. “Just out of ignorance,I guess. Then over the years just kept getting bigger, getting stronger, getting faster. It was kind of just natural development.”

His freshman year he was playing on the freshman or JV team, and also saw a little bit of varsity time where he admittedly was in practice “the tackling beat-up dummy for all those seniors.” Sometimes he’d have two or three games a week.

“My parents,” he said, “did not like it. It was like 24 games of football for them.”

It was last year as a junior that Geraci really developed into someone who caught the eyes of coaches everywhere, as opposing coaches would just pay tribute to him after games.

He had injured his knee his sophomore year – no surgery was needed – and missed about half the season. When he returned,he put a lot of work in the weight room over that summer, getting much stronger and bigger for his junior season.

“I just came out there and was as physical as I could be,” he said. “I just felt like I was the most dominant player on the field and nobody could stop me. It really helped me drive the mental part.”

Geraci said he learned a lot from former BG assistant Ken Eaves plus current line coach John Trisciani, the head coach’s father.

“Definitely was a big step for us going in the right direction as a line,” Geraci said. “A lot of (what he’s learned) was more technical stuff, hand placement, etc. Less of being too focused on the assignments, just putting a body on a body, go hit someone.”

He said Trisciani has taught the line how to improve on some of their movements – kick slide, move faster, post, etc.

But Geraci admits he still has the early season jitters, but says he has to come in with the same mentality as a year ago “and make people know the name.”

He says all of this in a quiet, confident manner. Last year was one of the first seasons he’s been recognized for his ability and what he does.

“It was something I definitely didn’t expect,” he said, adding he doesn’t get caught up with any of the attention, or the power polls and the notoriety Guertin is getting this year.

“Every week is a new battle,” he said. “It’s more easy to stay level-headed.”

The development was obvious in Trisciani’s mind.

“He’s gotten more physical, and this year the difference is he’s a captain,” the coach said, “so he’s taking a massive role in leadership which is great to see. He was playing varsity games for us as a freshman.

“Last year we were able to run the ball, and lot of that was Rocco. And now he’s confident.”

Geraci plays on both sides of the line (offense-defense, nose tackle on defense) but prefers the offensive line, and also prefers being a guard than a tackle, especially in BG’s system.

“I like to dominate on the inside rather than chase the linebackers down the field,” he said.

Trisciani loves watching Geraci on film.

“When things are going well, it’s definitely the line, and Rocco is a massive piece of that,” Trisciani said. “I’ll be counting the pancakes, that’s what we do. And defensively, he plays on the nose, and if he’s doing his job, he may not make the play, but he’ll be in on a lot of tackles. We’re really happy for him.”

Geraci says the toughest opponent, for him personally, has been Keene defensive lineman Emery Ray, whom he’s known since the two were at an All-Star event in the eighth grade. “He was tough on both sides,” Geraci said.

He feels in college, he might end up playing as a center. With that in mind, what about the future? You may be surprised.

Geraci has extensive family in the Pittsburgh, Pa.area, has visited the city often, is a big Steelers and Penguins fan, etc. so he’d like to go to the University of Pittsburgh and see if he can walk on to the football team. He plans on contacting the coaches soon.

Of course, what if he gets a scholarship offer somewhere else at a smaller school? His desired major is corportate finance and accounting.

“It’s always been pulling me back and forth about that,” he said. “It all depends. I really love the city of Pittsburgh, that’s where my family’s from, I love the sports there, I love the campus.

“If it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, I’d have to capitalize on it, but I have my eyes on Pittsburgh.”

Geraci loves the spirit of the city, seeing fans walk around in the gear of the teams there. “I think the city’s just beautiful, all the bridges, the water, and I think Heinz Field (now called Acrisure Stadium) is one of the coolest fields I’ve ever been too. Lot of cool memories going there, same with the Igloo.”

“He’s very tough,” Trisciani said. “He’s not a typical BG kid at all. He could go play anywhere.”

But right now, he enjoys Nashua and the success Guertin is having. Plus, Geraci is having fun.

“Of course,” he said. “The biggest part of the game is to have fun.”

And have pancakes. No syrup needed.