Jack Capaldi, Malvern Prep’s starting quarterback, has high hopes for the upcoming season. Capaldi has many goals and aspirations for the rest of the year, including winning an Inter-Ac Championship.

“I just want to win the rest of our games and then sweep Inter-Ac and win the championship,” Capaldi said.

In his senior year, Capaldi, who has high hopes for the remainder of the season, discusses the strengths of his game and how he plans on performing at a high level.

“I think I have a good arm. I can make a lot of deep throws, and I have gotten a lot better at simply knowing the game,” he said. “I would like to think I do a good job reading defenses.”

Capaldi also understands that he needs to improve on different aspects of his game, and works to get better every day at practice. 

“I feel like a lot of my game needs improvement just all around. There’s always a need for improvement. I’d say maybe my consistency and accuracy needs the most improvement,” Capaldi said.

As a grade schooler, Capaldi fell in love with football, playing in local West Chester leagues.

“I started in third grade, I played for LAFA [Little All-American Football League], which is a league in West Chester. Then, I played in middle school and then Malvern. I played running back until eighth grade. Then, I started playing quarterback,” he said.

Capaldi continues to grow every game he plays, especially since he became the starter last year. 

“I’d say I am just more comfortable on the field. It helps to have the guys around you and being a leader on the team. I feel like over the years I’ve gotten better at that, as I’ve gotten more and more comfortable with the team and my position,” Capaldi said.

Although he gets more comfortable with the experience, Capaldi still has to deal with nerves.

“I am pretty nervous for games, but I have a warm-up routine that settles me down,” Capaldi said. “Then we have a team mass before every game, and that typically calms me down as well. The biggest part is just being a senior and going through it last year as a junior helped a lot with nerves.”

Capaldi believes his biggest challenge as a player has been dealing with the pandemic, especially last year with a shortened season.

 “I think last year was pretty tough with COVID and all that. We were not able to get an offseason. Last year was definitely one of the tougher years, and we overcame it really well as a team. We went undefeated playing four games,” Capaldi said.

Jack has loved his time playing Malvern football, but one memory stands out to him the most.

“The Salesianum game last year is by far my favorite memory. I think being able to play at all last year was great for me, but going out and beating them was pretty fun,” he said.

Capaldi, in his final year as a Friar, is thankful for his time in the program and cherishes his teammates and the memories they have made over the years.

“It is all about the words we use a lot at Malvern, the Brotherhood. It is a lot of fun playing for Malvern, whether it’s on the field, at practice, or in a locker room. I feel like we have a great group of guys every year, and it makes it a lot of fun,” Capaldi said.