Campolindo senior Seppi Ortman is not your typical place-kicker. Alongside his many achievements on the gridiron, though, he can now add being a future Army Black Knight, as the first-team All-NCS selection committed to West Point, accepting an appointment to the revered campus along the Hudson River, where he will also be a member of the football team.
“When I was on my visit there, they took us to the edge of the Hudson River, and gave us the history accompanying that place, and took us to the exact place where George Washington stood,” Ortman said. “It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I’ve always wanted to do my military, even if it meant ROTC. So it came down to playing football at Johns Hopkins, and doing ROTC there, and possibly soccer, or West Point, which became my far and away number one choice. So as soon as I became appointed, I accepted it.”
Ortman, who has also received all-league and all-NCS honors in soccer, is headed to graduation with a 4.32 cumulative grade-point average. He drilled 10 field goals this past fall, and has been part of four straight section titles for the Cougars. But his talents run far deeper than a combination of student and athlete.
Each morning before school, Ortman arrives early for jazz band practice, where he plays the trombone. He is also a key member of the concert band, exchanging the trombone for the tuba.
In an era where athletics and performing arts provide for a hectic schedule, Ortman credits previous successful Campolindo football players who were able to excel in both arenas, having performed in the jazz band alongside former Cougars Jack Stephens and Sterling Strother. Stephens quarterbacked the 2014 Campolindo team which went 16-0 and won a state title when he was a senior, while Strother was a junior on that team and led the Cougars back to the state title game in his senior year. Strother now plays on the line for Yale, another Campolindo graduate combining academic and athletic excellence.
And if that sounds like a lot on his plate, consider that Ortman also earned the rank of Eagle Scout prior to his senior year in high school. In fact, he was one of three Campolindo football players to earn that rank together, along with friends John Torchio – the 2017 NCS Player of the Year who is headed to Wisconsin – and Ryan Regan.
“We all stayed in together over the years, and just really enjoyed the camaraderie, the challenges in the outdoors, and the places we’ve explored over the years,” Ortman added. “It was also a great connection for us to be able to provide service and leadership.”
Ortman, who built benches for the Campolindo garden for his Eagle Scout service project, ended up as a four-year varsity football and soccer player, after getting called up for the football playoffs during his freshman season, when he got to learn the trade behind current UC Davis kicker Matt Blair. He also made varsity lacrosse during the spring of his freshman year.
Now, he heads to New York, where he will likely kick for the sprint football team during his freshman year before moving up to the varsity unit. Army competes with other service academies, Ivy League, and Patriot League schools in sprint football, which contains weight limits. West Point does not red-shirt its cadets, but with a recent coaching change for special teams, there still remains the possibility of Ortman being on the primary roster in his first year.
