Upshaw Goes Back to Pursue a Dream : Career move: Three years out of school, he enrolls at Antelope Valley College to take firefighting classes and play football.

Something about the job told Tony Upshaw it was time to reconsider his options.

Not that it was a bad gig. The money was decent, the hours were flexible and he worked for one of his favorite people.

But Upshaw’s ambition was to become a firefighter, so he waved farewell to a life of polishing floors and cleaning carpets and said hello to Antelope Valley College.

And as long as he was there, he figured, maybe the Marauders could use another football player.

“You know how on TV sometimes you see success stories?” Upshaw said. “They get to you after a while. So I started thinking, why not get a free education and try to excel in school and football?”

So this fall, three years removed from the classroom and the sport, Upshaw, 21, returned to Antelope Valley and is building his own success story.

Despite not having played competitive football since his senior year at Moorpark High, Upshaw not only made the Marauder roster but became the team’s starting free safety. That’s where he’ll be Saturday when Antelope Valley meets Orange Coast in the Orange County Classic.

A few months ago, football wasn’t even in his plans.

After leaving Moorpark, where he gained 1,210 yards and scored 15 touchdowns as a tailback his senior season, Upshaw attended Moorpark College but did not play football and quit school before completing a semester. He then moved to Palmdale with his maternal grandparents and went to work for his grandfather, who owns a maintenance business.

In fact, Upshaw calls John and Mae Lancaster mom and dad because they raised him since he was about 5. His mother, Jackie, sent him to California from Philadelphia to live with her parents because she considered California a better environment for a child. He was introduced to his grandfather’s profession years ago.

“I started doing it, actually, when I was about 13,” Upshaw said. “I would shampoo carpets or wax floors. That kept me in shape when I was out of football.”

The work also gave him time to mature and reflect on his future. He wanted to pursue his goal of becoming a firefighter but did not want to hurt his grandfather’s feelings by leaving the family business. No need to worry about that, John Lancaster said.

“I like working with Tony,” Lancaster said, “but I prefer him going to school and pursuing his own career.”

So far, Upshaw is off to a flying start. He is carrying 17 units this semester--Antelope Valley offers a fire technology course--and has not received a grade below C. He hopes to parlay the academics and football into a scholarship to a four-year school.

“I don’t want to get held back because of grades,” he said. “I know myself and I know there’s no way I’ll be able to go through life not doing something good.”

He doesn’t have to worry about that when it comes to football.

Upshaw (5-feet-10, 195 pounds) has done remarkably well despite his three-year absence from the game. He was a two-way player and handled one of the cornerback spots for the Musketeers in his two high school seasons--he didn’t play freshman or sophomore ball--but still had to adjust to playing safety in college against faster and taller receivers.

“Just being on defense, period, was an adjustment,” he said. “In high school, I never thought much about the defense because my main focus was running the ball.”

Originally, Upshaw went to Antelope Valley with the idea of playing running back. But the Marauders were loaded at the position--they rotate about seven running backs in games--and short on defensive backs, so Coach Brent Carder asked Upshaw about moving to defense. He jumped at the chance.

Upshaw led the Foothill Conference with six interceptions, including three against Ventura in a 35-0 nonconference victory in Antelope Valley’s second game.

“The thing that was apparent to us early (in the spring) was that he was a good athlete,” said Joe Watts, Antelope Valley’s defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. “We count on our safety to be the quarterback of the defense. He is a mature and intelligent guy.”

Upshaw, who Watts says personifies the quintessential team player, showed that maturity by grabbing the opportunity at hand instead of stubbornly holding out for a running back spot. All he wanted, Upshaw said, was a chance to be on the field somewhere. Anywhere.

“They (coaches) said I had a better chance to start on the defense,” Upshaw said. “I said, ‘No problem.’ I know that whatever I do I’m capable of doing a good job.”

John Lancaster, his former employer, would second that.