Thanks to winning two state championships, and a slew of individual accolades, Dominic Cavanagh is the 2019-20 Daily News Male Athlete of the Year.

Dominic Cavanagh loves baseball and football. He enjoys them so much; he can’t pick a favorite between the two.

“I’ve never been able to,” Cavanagh, 18, said. “I like them both.”

When the former Ashland High football quarterback scampered off of the field at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on Dec. 7, 2019, Cavanagh had just won a Division 6 Super Bowl title.

Eight months later, when he jogged off Adams Field in Quincy on Aug. 14, 2020, the recent Ashland High graduate was a state champion, again, this time for summer baseball.

Not a bad way to bookend a crazy year of representing Ashland athletics with a pair of championships from the two sports he likes the most.

“I made a lot of memories with the boys,” Cavanagh said. “It’s crazy how it all came around like it did.”

For those aforementioned team accomplishments, and a slew of individual accolades, Dominic Cavanagh is the 2019-20 Daily News Male Athlete of the Year.

Fitting finish

Ashland High football coach Andrew MacKay and baseball coach Matt Messer met Cavanagh when he was in elementary school.

The two Clocker coaches run a sports camp every summer for four weeks at Keefe Tech. It wasn’t until just before Cavanagh hit high school, though, when MacKay and Messer really started to get to know the future Ashland High athlete.

“When we shook hands in eighth grade,” Messer said, “I was like, ‘This kid has some mitts.’”

Messer called Cavanagh up to the Ashland High varsity baseball team when he was a freshman. The Clockers needed another pitcher during the middle of the season.

“He already knew how to paint pitches and was already advanced,” Messer said.

By his sophomore year, Cavanagh was on varsity for both baseball and football, and even got a midseason call up to the varsity basketball team. The kid with dark brown hair and a lively right arm had developed a work ethic and maturity that coaches couldn’t help but notice.

“He has a larger understanding of the way that the world works,” MacKay said. “He makes the right decisions all the time. When you meet him, you can instantly tell how good of a person he is.”

“He’s such a special athlete, competitor, person, leader,” said Jake Obid, Cavanagh’s summer baseball coach. “He’s all the above.”

This past school year, including the spring of 2019 since there was no 2020 high school spring season for sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Cavanagh enjoyed his biggest performances under the brightest of lights.

In a Division 3 South sectional semifinal baseball game against Sandwich on June 12, 2019, Cavanagh pitched 7 2/3 innings while giving up just one run and striking out six as his Clockers won, 2-1, in extra frames.

Seven months later, Cavanagh hoisted the Agganis Trophy after his football team defeated Bishop Fenwick, 28-22, in a Division 6 state title game. Cavanagh finished 13-for-21 for 270 passing yards and three tossing touchdowns.

“I always think about his last two big games as a high school athlete,” Messer said. “Those two games stick out. … He’s a tough competitor. Really gritty. Without question probably one of the best leaders we’ve had at Ashland, whether that’s on the diamond or the football field.”

The Tri-Valley League MVP for football was named the Daily News’ Football Player of the Year – as New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees read Cavanagh’s named out loud during an online awards ceremony – after compiling 42 total touchdowns and 3,700 total yards during his senior season as a full-time QB.

Oh, and Cavanagh added 79 tackles on defense from the linebacker position.

“He’s the toughest kid on the field and the smartest kid on the field. Selfless,” MacKay said. “It never looked pretty but it was always right. He’s coachable; just an outstanding high school competitor.”

“(He’s) hard working, (an) alpha male, (a) jackhammer (and just) merciless,” said former Ashland High teammate Jackson Hornung.

And the cherry on top to Cavanagh’s past year of representing Ashland: a 7-1 win over Medfield to claim a Massachusetts Independent Baseball League title earlier this month.

“For this year to end the way we did,” he said, “is so fitting.”

WATCH: Drew Brees says Dominic Cavanagh’s name after the latter was named the Daily News’ Football Player of the Year

Behind the scenes of@HillerAthletics,@ARHSAthletics and@ClockerAD All-Stars from@MetroWestSports awards ceremony.pic.twitter.com/qhdAdhsOAg

— Tommy Cassell (@tommycassell44)June 24, 2020

Figured it out

On Aug. 15, Cavanagh’s family threw him a graduation party.

His mother, Jo-Ann, made him a blanket with all of his awards sewn in it and also gifted Cavanagh a few figurines – one of him playing football and the other baseball.

“Tears came to his eyes and he hugged me for two minutes,” his mother said.

Jo-Ann also organized a slideshow video so that Cavanagh’s friends and family, and former coaches and teachers, could share some thoughts about the recent Ashland High grad.

His summer baseball coach, however, decided to share his message etched in black ink on a blue sign. The message read: “Even though you struck me out, you’re still one of my favorite players I’ll ever coach.”

“The thing that stands out most about him is he loves being the best teammate he can be,” Obid said. “I don’t think I’ve seen someone love watching his team succeed and his teammates succeed as much as Dom.”

“You always know he’s going to have your back,” said recent Ashland High grad Bubba Gazard.

“If you ever need anything,” said Brandon Grover, former classmate of Cavanagh, “you can always rely on him to help you out.”

Cavanagh is now off to the University of New Hampshire to play football. The Wildcats and their coaching staff will soon find out what type of player and person Cavanagh is.

Yet, it’s his former coaches and teammates who won’t soon forget.

“He does a lot of things behind the scenes without getting credit,” MacKay said. “Whether it’s having a friend’s dad pass away and getting up in the morning and shoveling their driveway, or supporting some of his peers that don’t get the same amount of attention.”

“He’s always been an outgoing kid who always puts others before himself,” Grover said. “Kid is the definition of selfless.”

“He’s just a rock. He’s just a guy that people go to,” MacKay added. “He’s going to be successful in whatever he does. That man’s going to figure it out, that’s for sure.”

Even if he still hasn’t figured out what his favorite sport is, Dominic Cavanagh has everything else pretty much figured out.

He is, after all, a two-time state champion and the 2019-20 Daily News Male Athlete of the Year.

LISTEN: Former Ashland High football players talk all things gridiron on Cassell’s Corner podcast

Tommy Cassell is a senior multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tcassell@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @tommycassell44.