While Greensburg Central Catholic won its lone WPIAL football title in 2009, the Centurions were among the best teams in the state for several years preceding that championship. GCC made back-to-back title games in 2005 and 06, with Nick Sukay leading the way. Holding offers from nearly every notable college in the country, Sukay ultimately ended up at Penn State University, where he was a three-year starter at safety. After a short stint in the NFL, Sukay quickly shifted careers and has developed his own company in medical device sales. Sukay is featured in this edition of the Westmoreland Where Are They Now?

A native of Mount Pleasant, Sukay was part of a talented travel baseball team in junior high. That squad, which featured several players who would ascend to the Division I college ranks years later, helped forge Sukay’s path to Greensburg Central Catholic.

“Two of my close buddies, they were on the baseball team, as well,” Sukay explained. “They were going to Central, so that kind of made it a little easier for me to make that transition.”

His transition to high school football certainly appeared seamless, as he immediately emerged as a top receiver for the Centurions as a freshman in 2003. After GCC went 8-1 during the regular season, the Centurions qualified for the WPIAL Class AA playoffs. However, the Centurions dropped their opener to South Park to end the campaign.

In Sukay’s sophomore year, he added defensive responsibilities to his ledger after the team’s starting safety suffered an injury early in the season. Sukay ran with the opportunity in the secondary, as he earned All-State honors.

“That was the move that kind of put me on the radar from a recruiting standpoint,” he recalled.

After going 9-0 during the regular season, GCC returned to the Class AA postseason. The Centurions defeated Kittanning and Laurel in the first two rounds, but came up just short against eventual-champion Seton-La Salle in the semifinals, finishing with a mark of 11-1.

“That was maybe the best team that I was on,” Sukay noted.

Expected to build upon their strong season the year prior, the Centurions were viewed as one of the title favorites in 2005.

“We had very high expectations going into my junior year. It was championship or bust,” revealed Sukay.

For most of the year, the Centurions looked the part of a title favorite, as they rolled through the regular season unblemished with a mark of 9-0, including 7-0 in the Interstate Conference. In the WPIAL AA playoffs, the Centurions blanked Riverside, and then claimed a pair of narrow victories against Valley and Seton-La Salle, punching their ticket to the championship game.

The opportunity to compete for gold at Heinz Field was even more significant for Sukay for a surprising reason.

“It was great because I grew up actually as a Pitt fan,” he noted, mentioning how he idolized the Panthers when they featured Larry Fitzgerald and Rod Rutherford. “That’s the big place to play in Pittsburgh, so that was a surreal feeling to go there and play in front of fans from all over the Greater Pittsburgh area.”

The Centurions had to settle for silver, though, as they fell to South Park 24-20, the only loss of the season for GCC. One of the defining moments in that contest was a blocked extra point by Eagles star Tyler Scruggs that created the four-point margin.

“We couldn’t tie it up with a field goal at the end. We were at the 20-yard line or so with a couple of seconds left, so that was a big difference,” Sukay lamented.

Individually, Sukay caught 29 passes for 660 yards and eight touchdowns that season, while recording 58 tackles, six interceptions, and seven forced fumbles at safety.

After coming up just short, the Centurions were motivated to get over the hump in 2006, as they set even loftier goals.

“Losing that my junior year, it was definitely the same and even higher expectations senior year, because then we’re getting a lot more press coverage,” Sukay stated. “It was really state championship or bust.”

Playing in the loaded Class AA Interstate Conference, the Centurions won their first eight games, but they fell to rival Jeannette 7-2 in the regular-season finale. That low-scoring contest is still remembered today, as it was played in rainy and muddy conditions at McKee Stadium.

“It was a nasty game from a weather standpoint,” Sukay noted.

As a result of the outcome, the Centurions settled for a three-way tie atop the conference with the Jayhawks and Yough, which had dropped down from AAA from the previous cycle.

Back in the postseason, the Centurions rolled past Shenango and Mars Area, and then edged Ford City to return to the title game. Fittingly, Heinz Field was the venue for a rematch against Jeannette.

The second meeting of the season yielded the same result, as the Jayhawks prevailed 24-14.

“Even when I was a freshman, (it) was a huge rivalry. But it just kept escalating over the years. But nothing but respect for them,” Sukay said. “Nowadays, a lot of the guys are friends off the court or off the field. That’s not how it was back in the day.”

In his final season with GCC, Sukay hauled in 36 passes for 631 yards and six scores.

As he was having tremendous success on the field, Sukay also navigated the recruiting frenzy. He narrowed his options down to his favorite childhood team, Pitt, as well as Penn State University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Michigan. In the end, he opted to continue his career with the Nittany Lions.

“It was a tough choice, but I went to a game in 2005 – Penn State played Ohio State. I just knew at that point, how could you pass up playing at Beaver Stadium in this type of environment,” he recalled.

Playing on the defensive side of the ball was also a tough decision for Sukay.

“I had 49 offers out of high school, and 48 of them were for wide receiver. Penn State was one of those that wanted me to play safety,” he intimated. “That’s actually probably one of my biggest regrets – that I didn’t continue to play wide receiver. It was more natural of a position for me.”

Although players enrolling early for college football has become prevalent now, it was an outlier when Sukay made the decision in 2006. Thus, he graduated high school in December, and enrolled at Penn State for the spring semester.

“You’re young and you think you want to get a jump start on everything,” he explained. “Everything’s always 20/20 hindsight, but if I could do it all over again, I probably wouldn’t have done that. But it taught me things that made me a little bit stronger, who I am today.”

Despite the head start, Sukay redshirted for the 2007 campaign, in which the Nittany Lions went 9-4 overall, and 4-4 in the Big Ten Conference.

With the entire year spent on the sidelines, however, Sukay began to contemplate other options, and decided he wanted to join his former GCC teammates Max Suter and Cody Catalina at another school.

“I wanted to transfer to Syracuse, because that’s where my buddies went,” Sukay revealed. “My parents came in, and (Joe) Paterno said he wouldn’t sign my papers. He said I didn’t give Penn State enough of a chance.

“I stuck it out, and made the best of it,” Sukay added.

Unfortunately, he faced another obstacle the next year, as he suffered a foot injury that sidelined him for the entire season.

“You want to play. You have different expectations when you come into college,” stated Sukay. “But looking back on it, I wasn’t ready to play, either. I wasn’t really polished as a safety.”

The Nittany Lions enjoyed a stellar season, during which they went 11-2, including 7-1 in the conference. Penn State made the Rose Bowl, but fell to USC.

The following offseason, Sukay recommitted himself to football, as he recognized his opportunity to become a key contributor could be slipping away.

“It was the first time in my life that it felt like a do or die situation, so I had to do anything possible to keep improving myself,” he said.

That dedication paid immediate dividends, as Sukay earned a starting role at strong safety for the 2009 campaign. He played in all 13 contests, racking up 41 tackles, two interceptions, a fumble recovery, and 13 passes defensed.

“You go from not playing at all, to then being a starter without even playing special teams. It was a good accomplishment,” he stated.

The Nittany Lions once again finished 11-2, including 6-2 in the Big Ten, and claimed a victory against LSU in the Capital One Bowl.

While Sukay emerged as a key starter, he was overshadowed by a star-studded collection of talent around him on the defense, including defensive tackle Jared Odrick and linebackers Sean Lee, NaVorro Bowman, and Josh Hull.

“I played with some awesome players,” Sukay exclaimed. “What I remember about that was not having to touch many guys that year. Those guys just gobbled everyone up.”

The following season, Sukay appeared poised to be one of the best defenders in the Big Ten. Through six games, he registered 29 tackles, and was tied for the Big Ten lead with three interceptions. It was at the onset of that sixth game, though, that Sukay’s promising start came to a screeching halt.

On the opening kickoff against Illinois, Sukay delivered a big hit that created a fumble. However, he tore his pectoral muscle on the play.

“As the adrenaline wore off, as I went to run the next play, I couldn’t move my arm,” he detailed. “I played the whole half with a torn pec, which was one of the most painful things I’ve ever done in my life.”

As a result, he spent the rest of the campaign on the sidelines, as the Nittany Lions sputtered to a 7-6 finish, including 4-4 in the Big Ten.

“It was a down year, so it was hard to sit back and watch,” Sukay revealed. “That was unfortunate, because I was starting to get into a groove and feeling like my old self in high school, where it was more so going out there free and not thinking.”

With one year of eligibility remaining, Sukay opted to come back for his redshirt senior campaign in 2011. He appeared in all 13 contests, amassing 66 tackles, three interceptions, and a forced fumble. Despite his individual success, Sukay and his teammates endured one of the most difficult seasons in recent memory.

The Nittany Lions won nine of their first 11 games, and had an opportunity to capture the Big Ten Conference title, but the Jerry Sandusky scandal came to the forefront in November, turning the season upside down. Ultimately, PSU head coach Joe Paterno was fired during the campaign.

“You always feel for the victims who were part of that. We had no idea. We found out the same time the rest of the world did,” Sukay said.

“We had media and everyone camped outside of our apartments the whole time, waiting to get answers for us. It was tough.”

The black cloud over the program, combined with a narrow loss to Nebraska, derailed the lofty aspirations for the season. As a result, Penn State ended the campaign with an injury-riddled loss to the University of Houston in the Ticket City Bowl.

“By the end of it, I was one of the only starters who was left on the field. Everyone was hurt,” Sukay recapped. “It wasn’t the best way to end your college career.

“You don’t look back and think of the plays you made. It’s always the ones that you should’ve made or could’ve made, but didn’t make,” Sukay said, reflecting on his time with the Nittany Lions. “Those are the ones that always eat you up.”

Following his college career, Sukay joined the Buffalo Bills for training camp in 2012. However, he failed to make the 53-man roster, signaling the end of his NFL hopes.

“I have nothing but the utmost respect for what those guys do at a professional level. It’s so in-depth, and those guys make it look easy,” he noted.

Thus, Sukay opted to step away from football altogether, and begin his career in the business world.

“I could’ve potentially tried to go play in arena leagues or whatever leagues were going on at that time. Honestly, I didn’t want to bounce around,” Sukay revealed. “I kind of elected to just move on, and I knew I was going to try to be successful in doing something else.”

Although he graduated with a degree in criminal law and justice, Sukay started a career in medical device sales, using his PSU ties to gain his initial opportunity.

“I was fortunate to have some connections there, and decided to stay local in Pittsburgh with a company,” he explained. “I’ve been in the medical device world, in different capacities, ever since.”

He remained in Western Pennsylvania for nearly a decade, but relocated to Florida within the past five years. Now living just south of Tampa, Sukay created his own company - Front Lines Ortho - over the winter.

“I most recently just helped (an Irish) company commercialize in the U.S.,” he explained.

Boating is one of Sukay’s favorite hobbies nowadays, and he has not stayed involved with football since his career ended.

“The first few years after playing, I didn’t even want to watch football. I was kind of tired of it,” Sukay stated.

However, he’s now back to watching the Nittany Lions on most Saturdays, and he enjoys the NFL, too, especially the Steelers.

He’s also kept in touch with some of his former teammates at Greensburg Central Catholic, and occasionally talks to his high school coach, Muzzy Colosimo.

“He was a great guy who did so much for us when we were younger,” Sukay said of Colosimo.