CHECKING IN WITH ... MATTHEW DEP0NTE
(Editor's note: The Day will be publishing a profile of a spring athlete for each day the high school athletic season is suspended.) School: Griswold High School Class: Senior Sport: (Almost) Golf College choice: Trinity College in Hartford Chosen major: Chemistry Favorite sport besides golf: Football Athlete you grew up admiring: Eli Manning Favorite high school class: AP U.S. history Checking in with Matt: DePonte says his favorite moment in his high school career in any sport came during his junior season when the Griswold football team was playing rival Plainfield on Thanksgiving Eve. “Because of extreme cold, the game was moved to the night before,” DePonte said. “The game was freezing, but the energy around and on the field was electrifying. The singular moment that I will cherish forever is when I caught a touchdown to give us a 13-6 lead. While the ball was in the air, everyone was silent. I dove and caught the ball, then lifted it up in the air to show the crowd. The whole place exploded with cheers.”
What you need to know about Matt: This was going to be DePonte's first season as a golfer, making him a three-sport athlete along with football (tight end) and indoor track (shot put). He formerly competed in outdoor track in the spring. “I regularly play with my father and grandfather but this was going to be the first time that I played competitively,” DePonte said. “All of my friends were going out for the team.” This would have been DePonte's first spring not throwing the discus. “I wanted to finish high school by trying something new,” he said. DePonte said he would go out for the football team at Trinity. DePonte learned a lot in the fall, namely how a football team can survive without its quarterback. Andrew Koziol got injured early for the Wolverines, but the team went 7-2 nonetheless and, in DePonte's words, “beat Plainfield again.” He was an All-Eastern Connecticut Conference Division III first team pick at tight end and one of Griswold's CIAC scholar-athlete selections. DePonte on the ability to get into an excellent college: “I have prided myself on making sure that I always do the best work in the classroom,” he said. “My parents taught me from a young age to always do the best work that I can and always put maximum effort into every assignment. My older sister also provided a strong role model for me and I was able to follow in her footsteps by being a great student.” He lists Mr. Craig, Ms. Gillespie and Mr. Gynther among the teachers who "never allowed me to fail."