O-R Athlete of the Week: Chace Petrosky, Belle Vernon
Name: Chace Petrosky
Grade: Senior
School: Belle Vernon
Sport: Football
Petrosky’s week: On Friday night Petrosky showed the many ways he can impact a football game. He returned a punt for a touchdown, had two rushing touchdowns and caught a pair of touchdown passes. It added up to five trips to the end zone in a 47-20 victory over Southmoreland.
Petrosky wasn’t counting his touchdowns, but his teammates were.
“They told me when I got three and then four and then they were like ‘Oh my God, you got five’, so they let me know,” Petrosky said.
His 84-yard punt return opened the scoring. He had touchdown runs of 78 and 21 yards and his touchdown receptions from quarterback Jace Gedekoh were 48 and 30 yards.
He was happy to score a touchdown on a punt return, because he said he’s had a few called back on penalties this year.
“They were on the right hash and kicked it all the way over to the left hash and whenever that happens all of the flow usually goes toward you,” Petrosky said. “So, you just look for a cutback lane back to the open part of the field. Nobody was over there and I just got free and ran downfield.”
Petrosky is a running back, so he’s used to rushing the ball into the end zone, but he’s also been a threat in the pass game, evidenced by his two long touchdown catches on Friday.
“They were on a route that’s called a rail,” Petrosky said of his touchdown receptions. “It’s kind of just go down the sideline as fast as you can and (Gedekoh) will pop the ball right into your arms.
“I think I have only six or seven receptions this year and three went for touchdowns.”
Two-sport standout: Not only is Petrosky the running back on the football team, but he’s also the starting center fielder on the baseball team. He’s hopeful to play both sports in college and said he’s spoken to Washington & Jefferson coaches about the possibility of doing so.
“Statistically, football is my better sport, but people have told me that I’m good at both,” Petrosky said. “I feel like I’m a good baseball player too, but I’m more out there with football.”
Back to winning: Belle Vernon had a difficult season full of close losses in Class 4A last year, but has returned to form in Class 3A in 2026. The Leopards have won seven straight entering a critical Interstate Conference game at Waynesburg on Friday.
“We’re having a lot of fun, but we’ve been looking forward to the end of the year,” Petrosky said. “We’ve been studying those teams we’ve been playing, but we’ve really had our eye on the next two teams we play, Waynesburg and (co-conference leader) Elizabeth Forward. Last year, we weren’t winning as much, but we were still playing hard. We almost beat TJ. This year has been great throughout practices and the games. We’re pumped for each other when we score, and we’ve been playing lock down defense.”
Two C’s: Petrosky has a spelling twist on his first name. While most people spell it “Chase”, his is spelled “Chace”. He’s not alone at Belle Vernon with a unique c in the middle of his name. Jace Gedekoh falls into that category as well.
Petrosky doesn’t mind having a different spelling to his name.
“I don’t really know what my mom was thinking, but she wanted me to be unique and have a C in my name, Petrosky said. “Her name is Michele and usually that name is spelled with two Ls, but she only has one. She likes unique names and decided to put a C on mine.”
Compiled by Jerin Steele