For most high school football players, there's no bigger stage than Friday night lights, but for a football star at Sheehan High School in Wallingford, the lights keep shining into the spring.
Terrence Bogan is the best high school running back in the state. Really, he rushed for a state-best 2,481 yards in his junior season last fall. He credits his growth to his teammates because he’s not one to talk a big game.
“I wasn't really, I didn't really have high expectations for myself,” said Bogan. “I just wanted to do better than I did before."
But Bogan’s spotlight doesn’t fade when the stadium lights go out. Instead, he trades in the playbook for a playbill.
"It's just amazing to watch him on stage,” said Sheehan High School choral director Paige Sperry. “I've had a lot of football players in chorus over the years since I've been here. I just haven't had them on stage.”
Bogan has been involved in theater since middle school, and now he’s regularly the leading man.
"Here we don't have 10 shows but football we have 10 games in a regular season so, definitely opening night it's like, you can't mess up."
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But the differences between theater and football for Bogan, believe it or not, end there.
"He gets on the field and he wants to win, we know,” said Sperry. “He gets on the stage and he wants to put on the best possible performance he can."
Bogan says he knows what he’s going is out of the ordinary, but he’s glad at his school, it’s celebrated.
“I think it's cool here where someone is just an athlete or just an actor,” said Bogan. “Everyone does anything that they're comfortable doing and I like that.”
