Reddington’s horrific injury won’t break him
Methacton wrestler looking forward to college career
One of the lasting images from a terrific weekend of wrestling at the PIAA Southeast Regional Wrestling Tournament at Souderton Area High School was the site of Methacton senior Bryce Reddington sprawled out in pain on one of the mats following a horrendous injury during his semifinal match versus Coatesville senior Brent Wendle.
The two took simultaneous shots, but when Reddington’s left foot got caught in the mat, Wendle’s momentum crumpled it, resulting in the Warriors senior suffering what was diagnosed as a spiral fracture of the left fibula.
That brought to a close the scholastic wrestling career of Reddington, who stunned the district by reaching states as sophomore, then disappointed a season ago when he went to Hershey as the regional champ, only to come home without stepping onto the state podium.
This season, Reddington’s most promising, he will not even get to Chocolate Town.
Weeping uncontrollably from both pain and disappointment immediately following the loss, Reddington was taken to the hospital, but returned later in the evening to take his place on the regional podium, or, at least, beside the podium.
By then, the disappointment and the tears were gone, at least on the surface.
And he was prepared to recap what was a terrific, if not exactly a rewarding scholastic career.
“I’m just trying to do my best to keep my head up,” Reddington said. “The good thing is, I have four years of wrestling at George Mason University to look forward to.
“It’s tough, but this is what can happen in this sport, and in life.”
Reddington said he’ll
now turn cheerleader for his teammate Brendan Marion, a practice partner who will be Methacton’s lone state participant.
“I’d like to think I helped get him to states, so I’ll be rooting for him,” Reddington said. “Doing this you get to know a lot of guys, and there’s a lot of respect between us.
“I was pretty upset, but once I talked to my coaches they helped me realize that my record shows what I’ve done. They were at a loss for words at first, too, but they told me what I’ve done at Methacton can’t be erased.”
He then broke into a wide smile, and turned his attention to the future.
“Now, I’ve got four years to try and become an All-American,” he said. *** No one had given Hatboro-Horsham heavyweight Nick Chapman much of a shot at medaling at regionals, considering the Hatters senior came into the tournament weighing a relatively paltry 219 pounds.
But the undersized Hatter proved everyone wrong, using his quickness and guile to overcome his lack of bulk and winning the 285-pound crown.
“A regional title has always been one of my goals,” Chapman said. “Now the idea is to keep competing until somebody tells me to stop.”