Richie Martinez is as good an athlete as any who have come through Wallkill Senior High School.

During his time, he’s been a key member of both the Panthers’ football and boys’ lacrosse teams. Now, he’s going to have the opportunity to keep doing that as he plans to play both Division I football and Division I men’s lacrosse at Hampton University in Hampton, Va.

“I’m really excited to see what I can do with this,” said Martinez, who was named an all-state honorable mention by the New York State Sports Writers Association. “Hopefully I’ll become a player that can help them and help myself when I’m down there.”

He’s got a tall task in front of him. Martinez scored 99 points during his junior season with 75 goals and 24 assists. He entered his senior year with 95 goals and 32 assists for a total of 127 points.

He missed two football games due to injury in the fall of 2022, but he still managed to break haul in 12 touchdown catches for the Panthers. He also played defense, recording 69 tackles and three interceptions.

“He’s an absolute animal,” Wallkill football coach Joe Pillitteri said. “He’s in the gym every single day. He’s training over at Parisi Speed School to get faster and increase his agility. He’s one of the better athletes we’ve had come through here.”

Martinez was recruited to play lacrosse first, but he found out when he took his lacrosse visit that he would have the opportunity to play both sports.

“I fell in love with it when I met the coach,” Martinez said. “He was a really sweet, a nice dude. He really pulled me in and made me feel welcome, and when I was talking to him, he said he’d give me an opportunity for football.”

He’ll only play one side of the field on the gridiron. While he was setting receiving touchdown records for the Panthers, he is expected to play safety for Hampton. He was recruited as an attackman for the lacrosse team.

While he expects playing two Division I sports will be a challenge, Martinez said the two sports complement each other. Football will come first on the calendar. When he arrives at Hampton this summer, he’ll train specifically for football, and when that season ends, he will head over to the school’s lacrosse program, and prepare for the upcoming spring 2024 season.

“The football coach (Robert Prunty) really likes lacrosse,” Martinez said. “He likes that it’s a lot of mobility. He likes the dodging, going back and forth and that it’s a lot of movement at a fast pace. He likes it and he thinks it will keep me in very good shape with my footwork and everything. The lacrosse coach (Chaz Woodson) is the same thing.”

Martinez isn’t the first member of his family to go on to play a Division I sport. His older brother, Louis Martinez, is a pole vaulter at the University of Alabama.

As he joins his brother among the ranks of Division I athletes, he is looking forward to the challenge of being a Division I two-sport athlete.

“Just the experience, the whole thing,” Martinez said. “See what I can do with it, and just seeing how my life really develops from this. I feel like it’s a big learning experience.”