Former Cumberland County soccer player goes pro in a sport he never thought he'd play

Against all odds, soccer player and coach Joseph Panuccio achieves his professional sports dream as a kicker for American Indoor Football's Harrisburg Stampede.HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Cumberland County native is using his kicking skills to achieve his professional sports dream, in a sport he never imagined he'd play. However, the journey for the Mechanicsburg Area High School and soccer clinic coach by day, pro football kicker by night, is an unconventional one.

It wasn't until what seemed like a typical night, turning to the sport he loved, shooting the soccer ball with his older brother, was he asked with the far-fetched question by his sibling, 'Why don't you just walk onto the Eagles?'Panuccio, however, took it as a challenge. ...it was all about practicing with a different ball, on a different field, playing a completely different sport using a familiar kicking skill that didn't feel so different at all.

Fine may be an understatement because when tryouts came, all it took was the sound of the football coming off Panuccio's foot that had Stampede coaches turning their heads. "They are so incredibly supportive of this. They've never been to a football game and they said they're loving it," said Panuccio."I kind of blacked out during that field goal. I just knew I had to get it done."A job he knows he has to continue perfecting for the teammates and coaches who have already given so much to him.

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