As an offensive lineman for the nationally-ranked football team at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, Eddie Battista was used to working in the trenches.
“It’s a humble position. You’re a lunchbox kind of guy. It’s a modest job. You’ve got four guys on the line with you. It’s a brotherhood,” he said.
And while the football spotlight is often on big plays by quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers, the offensive line’s hard work in battling defensive opponents, clearing paths for running backs or blocking the pass rush long enough for quarterbacks to connect with receivers does bring its rewards, Battista said.
“As a lineman, you’ve got to love it, love the grind every day,” he said, adding that offensive linemen get satisfaction when their work helps big plays develop, like “that brilliant run or the long pass.”
Battista, a member of the class of 2025 at Our Lady of Good Counsel, stands 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 290 pounds. As an offensive lineman for the Falcons, he gained Academic All American honors and second team All-Washington Catholic Athletic Conference recognition.
The Good Counsel senior’s honors extended beyond the football field. Battista achieved Principal’s List status by earning all A’s throughout his four years there. He was also a member of the National Honor Society and participated in the school’s politics club.
This fall, Battista will attend Brown University, an Ivy League School in Providence, Rhode Island, where he will play football and plans to study political science and government. “I hope for a career in politics,” he said.
His favorite classes at Good Counsel included Advanced Placement language, where he studied nonfiction writing and speeches. That class, he said, has helped him become a better writer. Another favorite class was IB 20th Century History in the school’s International Baccalaureate program. “It’s really interesting because it’s such a dynamic period of time,” he explained.
At Our Lady of Good Counsel, Battista served as co-president of the high school’s Student Council. He was also a founding member of the peer education program there. “It’s all about educating underclassmen about what to expect,” he said, adding that includes sharing lessons learned about issues like peer pressure and social media use.
Battista comes from an athletic family. He is the second of four children of Steve and Jean Battista, who both graduated from St. Vincent Pallotti High School in Laurel and are members of the Pallotti Athletic Hall of Fame. His mother received the Outstanding Catholic Athlete Award from the Catholic Youth Organization of the Archdiocese of Washington in 1997. Jean Battista, who grew up and taught at St. Jerome’s School in Hyattsville, is also in the Athletic Hall of Fame for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County for her accomplishments as a softball player.
During his years at Good Counsel, Battista – who is a member of St. Louis Parish in Clarksville – participated in campus ministry, helping to lead retreats for underclassmen and sharing the values he learned from his Catholic education there and at St. Louis School.
As a Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School, Our Lady of Good Counsel High School emphasizes the values of simplicity, humility, compassion, zeal and trust. Battista said he especially appreciated the “Xaverian values of zeal and humility and how they play into each other.” Zeal, he said, reflects “your passion for what you do,” and humility helps one understand “you’re a member of God’s creation, and everyone has human dignity.”
Battista volunteered at a nursing home as a Good Counsel student. “I cleaned up and did heavy lifting,” he said, adding, “I bonded with a lot of the residents there… Working with people who had dementia and Alzheimer’s, it taught me patience. I learned from their love.”
That volunteer experience, he said, “helped me love with more patience and compassion for others.”
As his May 22 graduation approached, the Good Counsel senior who made an impact on the football field, in the classroom, on school retreats and at a nursing home, said, “I feel mostly excited about the next chapter, but grateful for the experiences I had here.”
