Cheers.
Whether it’s on the football field, basketball court or baseball diamond, when James Armstrong is playing, he hears a lot of them, the irony there being that most people who know him call him by his nickname, “Booboo.”
“My grandma gave it to me,” Armstrong explained. “It’s just something that’s stuck with me. Pretty much everyone calls me that.”
Just like pretty much everyone who has seen Armstrong play those sports have likely said that this freshman at Hopewell High School is a truly special talent.
“He’s unbelievable,” Hopewell football coach Matt Mottes said. “I’ve watched him pitch no-hitters in Pony League. I’ve watched him put up double-doubles in varsity basketball. And I’ve obviously seen him play football. He’s an amazing talent with a great work ethic.”
Put it all together, and Armstrong might be one of the most gifted three-sport athletes to enter the WPIAL in quite some time.
Armstrong is a strong-armed 6-foot-2, 215-pound freshman at Hopewell who appears to have a very bright future. While it’s anyone’s guess as to which sport Armstrong will pursue at the next level — he’s got plenty of time to figure that out — it’s safe to say that you will be hearing about him quite a bit these next few years.
Consider this:
• As Hopewell’s starting quarterback in football, Armstrong passed for 1,344 yards and 10 touchdowns while running for 787 yards and 15 touchdowns last fall. Armstrong opened some eyes with his play, and Pitt became the first school to offer him a scholarship last Friday.
• Armstrong is a starting forward in basketball, and is averaging a double-double on the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds per game while playing in a strong Class 4A section that includes Avonworth, Central Valley, Beaver and Quaker Valley.
• Booboo won’t begin his high school baseball career until March, but the talk is that he could make an immediate impact in that sport, too. Armstrong is a talented left-handed pitcher/outfielder who led his team to a Pony League championship last summer.
“Booboo the baseball player might be the best of all,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong, 15, has been playing baseball the longest and said that sport had long been his favorite, but he admits that might have changed recently due to his football success. Pitt offensive coordinator Kade Bell paid a visit to Hopewell last week to extend Armstrong a scholarship. It’s not often that Pitt offers a quarterback from the WPIAL or City League, and the Panthers offering one who is just a freshman might be unprecedented. Armstrong attended a camp at Pitt last summer.
“I was excited. I’ve been seeing everyone else get offers, so I was just waiting for mine to come,” said Armstrong, who was in class taking a mid-term exam when he was pulled out and given the exciting news.
Armstrong sure is exciting to watch on the football field, and his coach said he was not surprised one bit that his star signal-caller already has a Power Four offer. The lefty finished his freshman season strong for a Hopewell team that went 4-6, throwing for 720 yards and rushing for 506 yards while accounting for 12 total touchdowns across the team’s final four games.
“It’s just his toughness. He refuses to be denied,” Mottes said.
Mottes said he is still shaking his head at what Armstrong did in Hopewell’s final game, a 55-43 loss to New Castle.
“The recruiter from Pitt texted me afterward and said, ‘Coach, is it true that Armstrong had 480 total yards?’” Mottes recalled. “I told him that wasn’t true, so he responded, ‘I was going to say, that’s a game of a lifetime.’ And then I told him he actually had 686. He said, ‘Are you serious?’ And then Terry Smith from Penn State texted me asking me the same thing.”
Armstrong produced 686 all-purpose yards in the sparkling performance, throwing for 240 yards and a touchdown, rushing for a career-high 240 yards and five touchdowns, and amassing the other 206 yards on kickoff returns.
Booboo then turned his attention to basketball and, just as was the case in football, has proven to be one of the WPIAL’s top freshmen. Armstrong dropped 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his very first game.
“He’s made a huge impact both on the court and in the locker room,” Hopewell basketball coach Mark D’Alessandris said. “Just his attitude, his personality. He competes every day. I have five active seniors on the roster. He kind of comes in with a chip on his shoulder. He says, ‘I’m going to be there right with them when we run sprints.’ And he is right there. I was worried about him hitting a ‘freshman wall,’ but it hasn’t happened. He continues to do everything asked of him.”
Armstrong has provided a terrific inside presence for a Hopewell team that is 4-8. D’Alessandris said Armstrong has shown the ability to “physically dominate” down low. Armstrong ranks among the top freshman scorers in the area, and is likely the only one averaging a double-double.
“He’s just phenomenal,” D’Alessandris said. “If you call him on anything, he turns it up another notch. He just competes at such a hard level. We have a senior captain, Zach Kovel, and James wants to compete with him every day.”
It won’t be long before Armstrong’s competitive drive carries over to the baseball field. Just last summer, Armstrong helped Hopewell win a Beaver County Pony League championship. Armstrong and a teammate combined on a no-hitter in the championship game. Armstrong struck out 14 over six innings, and at one point retired 11 batters in a row via strikeout.
“He throws so hard,” Mottes said. “He hits home runs, too.”
Armstrong is simply a big hit no matter the sport he plays.
What’s scary is that Booboo’s best is likely still to come.
“This is the worst version of him you’re going to see,” D’Alessandris said. “He’s averaging 15 and 12 and this is the worst you’re going to see. It’s really something.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.