Watterson cousins to continue football careers at Navy

Cousins Dominic and Landon Purcell have been football teammates from grade school through their senior season at Columbus Bishop Watterson High School. They’ll still be together this fall because both have signed letters of intent to continue their athletic and academic careers at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

“It’s been my dream to play college football since I can remember,” Dominic said at a signing ceremony earlier this month at Watterson. “I just worked really hard because people were better than me in elementary school and so I set my goals.” 

The ceremony was a formality for Dominic, a linebacker who had signed with Navy two months earlier. The academy had started recruiting him when he was a junior and he announced his commitment to the institution last June, before his senior season at Watterson.

Landon shared an interest in Navy and the cousins attended a camp in Annapolis last summer, but Landon is a long snapper for punts, field goals and extra point attempts, and specialists usually don’t sign scholarships in the early December period. 

The University of Pittsburgh also had expressed interest in Landon, but the Panthers’ coaching staff was fired at the end of the 2023 season. Navy had already offered another long snapper a scholarship, but the snapper withdrew his commitment from the academy.

Landon received a call from Midshipmen special teams coordinator Ricky Brown a week before the February signing day asking if he would consider the academy. “It was a pretty easy decision,” he said of the chance to join his cousin.

The two are thrilled to be staying together in college.

“We’ve been playing together since we could literally walk,” Dominic said, “and we’ve literally been best friends since we were three years old.”

“It will be nice having somebody you know to go through it with you, all the way from fourth grade” to college, Landon said.

Both played key roles in Watterson’s advance last season to a state championship game for the first time. The Eagles lost 27-7 to Toledo Central Catholic in the Ohio Division II final on Dec. 1 in Canton.

During the playoff run in November, Watterson coach Brian Kennedy called Dominic the finest player he has seen at the school in the past two decades. And with good reason.

The first-team all-state linebacker was the only defensive player among eight finalists for the Mr. Football award from the state’s scholastic sports writers, recognizing the top player in Ohio high school football. He finished a monster senior year with 200 tackles in 16 games, including 41 tackles for loss, eight sacks, five interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

The Mr. Football news came as a surprise.

“Honestly, I found out from Twitter when I was scrolling through in the parking lot about to go into practice,” Dominic said. “It caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting it at all. It’s pretty awesome, but I definitely could not have done it without my coaches and all the guys that supported me.”

In the state final alone, he was credited with 21 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, one sack and a forced fumble. He was responsible in a 27-14 win over Celina a week earlier for 17 tackles and returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to seal the outcome.

Led by Purcell, Watterson’s defense posted four shutouts and gave up 10 points or fewer in five games during the season. The only other blemish on the team’s 14-2 record was a 27-24 loss to rival Columbus St. Francis DeSales in the regular-season finale on a game-ending field goal.

After the Eagles had lost several key players from a 2022 team that reached the regional finals, “not a lot of people thought that was how the year (2023) was going to go,” Dominic said. ”I think it was a combination of a lot of things. Our senior group has been playing together for a really long time – a lot of us with or against each other since fourth grade.

“So to see that come together, that’s what diocese football is all about – forming those connections so whenever you get to high school, it’s a lot easier. And I think the biggest factor is the coaching here is second to none.”

“There’s so much camaraderie,” Landon said. “It’s more of a brotherhood.”

Dominic began to show his football acumen in his freshman year at Watterson, moving into the starting lineup as a cornerback midway through his first season, then playing safety as a sophomore and both linebacker and safety as a junior and senior.

Navy showed interest in him before his junior year.

“I was being recruited by Navy, Army, Air Force, all the service academies and then MAC (Mid-American Conference) schools like Miami” University of Ohio, he said. “I really fell in love with Navy and the opportunity to serve my country and everything fell into place.”

Landon, an all-around athlete who wrestles and plays lacrosse, began snapping for kicks in seventh grade at Columbus Immaculate Conception School and continued throughout high school, honing his technique through hard work, private instruction with trainer Adam Tanalski and camps.

A teammate, kicker Rudy Kessinger, was one of the Watterson football players participating in the signing ceremony with the Purcells. Kessinger signed to play at Eastern Michigan.

“I was pretty bad when I started in seventh grade,” Landon said. “I started taking it serious probably freshman year and starting going to camps. But probably the most important thing was just practicing it for 15 minutes a day, because that’s where you get better.”

The Naval Academy will provide a challenge both academically and athletically, but the Purcells believe they’re prepared. The first step will be the Navy’s prep school in late July. There’s a five-year commitment to serve in the U.S. Navy after the cousins graduate from the academy.

“I think Watterson is second to none when it comes to education,” Dominic said. “I think it’s unlike any other place just because how close-knit the community is and how just everyone’s willing to help each.

“I know the academics are obviously brutal (at Navy), but I’m really excited.”