Methacton’s Marion wrestles for two
Senior qualifies for states after teammate Reddington breaks his leg
Most eyes were on the center mat.
Sure, there was plenty of drama in the championship finals at the South East AAA Wrestling Regional Saturday at Souderton High School.
But for the highest stakes? Mat No. 3 was the place to be.
There’s glory in a top-of-the-podium finish, a spot 14 of the region’s finest ascended. But by the medal round those 14, their fellow finalists and every thirdand fourth-place finisher had already achieved their season’s top objective: to qualify for the PIAA Championships.
The 28 individuals on mat No. 3 weren’t as fortunate. Those 28 were left to scrap for fifth place and most importantly the last of five qualifying places for next week’s state tournament.
Win and you’ve achieved your ultimate goal. Lose and your season’s over. How’s that for stakes?
Every sport has its elimination games. But wrestling alone manages to find an unparalleled brightness of the spotlight: one-on-one, six minutes, dream vs. dream.
“You have to overcome all those thoughts in the back of your mind: What if I don’t get it? What if I don’t wrestle the best I can?” Methacton senior Brendan Marion said. “You just have to hope all your training and how hard you’ve worked – ever since I was 5 years old I’ve been working up for this moment – will carry you through.”
Methacton’s Marion found himself carrying the dream of two. And Boyertown’s David Campbell in many ways always takes the mat for two.
Marion and Campbell were among the nine Pioneer Athletic Conference wrestlers relegated to the high stakes fifth-
place match. The two, plus Owen J. Roberts’ Cole Meredith (138), Boyertown’s Chris Berry (152) and Upper Perkiomen’s Jacob Folk (160) came through when it was all on the line, making plans for themselves Thursday when the PIAA Championships open at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Earlier in Day 2 of the region’s final hurdle on the way to Hershey, Marion was set to follow close friend and classmate Bryce Reddington onto the mat.
Reddington entered the day 35-0, a champion at 145 at the Pioneer Athletic Conference and District 1-AAA West levels, and on his way to a third trip to the state championships. Thirty-seven seconds into his semifinal with Coatesville’s Brent Windle that was all in the past.
Reddington suffered a broken leg, his season – and scholastic career – cruelly ended when it was reaching its crescendo.
It left Marion to carry the torch for the two of them.
“It lit a fire in me,” Marion said of seeing Reddington injured. “We’ve been friends ever since we were born. My dad and his dad grew up together on the same street so pretty much since birth we’ve been friends.”
Marion beat Owen J. Roberts’ Jason Zollers 9-2 in the second round of consolations – the round where his junior campaign ended – but fell to Pottsgrove’s Ryan Finn, 3-2, to be relegated to the do-ordie fifth-place match.
Bidding for his first trip to Hershey, Marion found Reddington in his corner, fresh out of the hospital and ready to toughen up and inspire his friend.
“He gives the hardest high-fives ever – I kind of don’t like giving them to him because they hurt so much – but then he said, ‘Go out there and let’s get this. I can’t get it so you’d better go get it,’” said Marion, whose face is filled with the cuts and scrapes that exhibit how grueling the wrestling season is. “That really inspired me to go out there and do what I did.”
Marion pinned Pennridge’s David Blanchard in 2:48, the smile on his face only matched by the one on Reddington’s as the embraced right as Marion came off the mat.
“It’s everything I dreamed of,” Marion said.
He earned his way to a place he’s prepared for years before, thanks largely to Reddington.
“I’ve been up to Hershey a couple times to stay with (Bryce when he was competing in states), to get that experience of going up there in hopes of that one day I might be there and already have the feel for it,” Marion said.