Wasatch star to play for Idaho State

James Delacenserie and the Wasatch Wasps football team went into halftime of a Sept. 28 game against Judge Memorial trailing 24-14.

Just two years before, Delacenserie had been on the opposite sideline, leading the Bulldogs to a narrow 35-34 victory over Wasatch.

This time he was with the Wasps, and once again he’d be on the winning side. Delacenserie threw four touchdown passes in the second half and Wasatch ended up winning the game 42-31. Delacenserie finished the game with 341 passing yards and five touchdowns.

"We came out slow," he said. "But in the second half we were able to pass it all over them. It was cool to be able to beat the school I used to play for."

Delacenserie, who was born in Madison, Wis., but has lived in Park City since he was 10 years old, led the Bulldogs to the state semifinals in 2010 before deciding to transfer closer to home after his sophomore season.

He said there were two options on the table.

"It was between Park City and Wasatch," he said. "I just thought that Wasatch was a better fit for me."

He was right. The senior, who will play for Idaho State University in the fall, had a very good two years at Wasatch. He finished his career with 70 touchdown passes (10th all-time in the state), 80 total touchdowns (16th) and 6,174 passing yards (14th).

Now, he’ll focus on helping to turn around a struggling Idaho State football team. The Bengals, members of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision, finished 1-10 in 2012 after going 2-9 in 2011 under first-year head coach Mike Kramer.

"I think it would be cool to go into a program that isn’t doing very great and be a part of the turnaround," Delacenserie said.

He added that 2013 will be the year when some of Kramer’s recruits start taking important roles in the system, and he hopes that solves some of the problems that have plagued the program in recent years.

"Coach Kramer, coming in, he had to fix a lot of academic problems at the school," he said. "Next year will be the first year with a lot of players (Kramer) recruited coming in."

Staying eligible academically shouldn’t be a problem for Delacenserie, who had a 4.0 GPA at Wasatch and wants to major in engineering.

On the field, he’ll focus on trying to win the quarterback job.

"I have an opportunity to go in there and compete for the starting job," he said. "I want to get used to the system and put myself in the best position I can to compete."

Get to know James

Favorite class: Math

Favorite food: Italian

Favorite movie: "The Hurt Locker"

Favorite band: U2

Favorite sports team: Green Bay Packers

Favorite sport (other than football) to watch/play: Skiing

Favorite sports moment: Beating Judge senior year

Dream job: Engineer

Hobbies (other than sports): Drawing