“Football is a simple game,” says a popular joke. “Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, Germany always wins.”
Of course that joke, credited to Gary Linekar, was referencing the sport that is frequently referred to as “soccer.” San Marino High School is happy that not everyone follows that axiom. The Titans have two young men of German origin who don’t really care for “Futbol”.
Brothers Felix and Moritz Steinberger must not have recieved the soccer directive.
“Both never played soccer,” said Anja Steinberger, the mother of the Steinberger brothers, who are enrolled in San Marino High School, as a senior (Felix) and sophomore (Moritz). “It just didn’t interest them” Anja said. Back in Germany, (a town named Penzberg, which is halfway between Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Steinberger boys participated in jiu-jitsu.
They didn’t know much about American football until the family was considering a move to the United States. When Felix had to prepare his schedule for his freshman year, Anja talked him into playing football.
“Football at the time was something entirely new,” she said.
Felix began (literally) studying day and night to figure out the game.
“It did not take him long to fall in love with the sport and to get Moritz just as excited about football as he is,” Anja said.
In middle school, Felix and Moritz selected track & field but schools had to close due to the pandemic. They picked up right where they left off and the Brothers Steinberger are still involved with and loving their new sport. Felix plays offensive line and defensive line for the varsity team and Moritz gets junior varsity snaps as a running back and linebacker. They know a lot about a game that they once knew very little and have fit right into the football landscape.
