Brighton senior and offensive lineman Alex Heininger commits to Central Michigan

BRIGHTON, N.Y. (WHEC) — Week three of high school football is in full swing. At one school, a senior had something working against him but in the end, his hard work paid off.

Brighton football is unbeaten through a quarter of the season. The team’s first two games have been tough to ignore, but you couldn’t avoid the presence of senior if you tried.

Offensive lineman Alex Heininger is a towering, buff senior today. But it wasn’t always like that.

"I was really thin 8th grade coming into freshman year," Heininger said. "I think I weighed 170."

As many kids do, he grew. But with the help of his strength and conditioning coach, Michael Weimer, he transformed.

"He started coming in 8th grade," Weimer said. "The thing about Alex is he never missed a day. He rarely missed a day. He always had high goals of being successful at football."

"He stuck me to a really good weight room plan and down to the basics, that’s all," Heininger said.

The hard work paid off. This past summer, the senior committed to Central Michigan, the first school to offer him a scholarship.

"It honestly means the world to us," Weimer said. "His goal was to always go play a program that he felt like he fit in. Once he went to Central Michigan University and met their coaches, he felt like he fit right in."

"It’s what I’ve always wanted to do," Heininger said. "I’ve always told myself that that’s what I was going to do. It wasn’t really an if or a but, it was a when."