SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete for week of Feb. 2, 2022.
Every team needs a Mackenzie Erb. In fact, everybody needs a Mackenzie Erb in their life. The Central Bucks South senior, it seems, is beloved by all who cross her path. Not because she’s a star athlete, although she is a four-year starter for the basketball team. Not because of anything heroic she’s done but rather because of who she is. “Mack is probably the kindest, nicest soul of any person I’ve ever taught or coached,” South coach Beth Mattern said. “I don’t think she has an enemy.” A two-year captain of the basketball team, Erb has had a tougher than expected fall and winter, suffering a concussion in late October and, more recently, going down with a high ankle sprain that is sidelining Erb for at least two weeks.
The concussion occurred during a fall preseason game, and her coach has not forgotten the chilling sound of Erb’s head hitting the court at the University of the Sciences. “It was a hard play – she hit the floor, and the back of her head just whipped against the ground,” Mattern said. “It was instantaneous. She was screeching and holding her head. You could just tell she wasn’t right. It’s the first time I really saw a concussion do that so immediately to someone.” The Titans’ coach is no stranger to concussions, and she won’t soon forget this one, but what left an even greater impression on Mattern was the response of her players to Erb’s injury. “There were just so many different layers to (the injury), but what I also remember is the look on my players’ faces,” Mattern said. “Their chins dropped, and they were just staring – ‘Oh my god, what do we do?’ Mack is such a genuine, caring, nice person, and I think part of her getting injured is you know that about her, and when we all saw her go down with a concussion and how she responded – no one wishes that on her. I think most everyone would say – I wish that was me instead of her because she’s just so kind. That’s how I felt – why Mack?”
The symptoms persisted for several weeks, forcing Erb to miss the final weeks of preseason, but she cleared the concussion protocol in time to get back for basketball tryouts. This is the year Erb and her teammates have been pointing to, and the Titans are in the midst of a successful season, currently 16h in the District One 6A power rankings in what will be a 24-team field. “Mack is definitely a leader,” Mattern said. “She has the ability to score – she can shoot the three, she can make a post move, so she’s diverse in what she brings. Defensively, she can guard a shooting guard, but she’ll guard a post. She’s not afraid to get in there. She can help us in multiple ways. We have to remind her to be offensive-minded sometimes, but when she remembers, she’s definitely helped us in big situations.”
The script was going as planned until Erb rolled her ankle in the Titans’ game at Council Rock South, a come-from-behind Titans’ win. “It was so painful – the trainer came and looked at it, and it was already huge,” Erb said of an injury diagnosed as a high ankle sprain. “I knew it was bad. They said I’d be out about two weeks – I should be able to play either the last couple of games or playoffs depending on what the doctor says.”
A member of the National Honor Society, Erb, who takes AP classes, is undecided on a college but plans to pursue a physical therapy major. “I’ve been around physical therapists all my life,” she said. “Both of my siblings needed physical therapy when they were younger, and I know a bunch of people that have gotten hurt and needed it. I just think it’s really interesting. I want to be able to help people in the way I know other people have been helped.” For now, Erb has her sights set on returning to the court, which is exactly where Mattern hopes she will be as the season comes down the home stretch. “This season of late she’s been a little bit grittier,” the Titans’ coach said. “She’s been getting steals on defense. I feel like she was playing the best basketball she has for us, so that’s also harder for her when you feel like you’re doing well and now an ankle injury bites her. Mack is quiet – she’s not flashy. She wants to do a very good job, she wants to work hard, but she doesn’t want attention. She does really well in school, and she has a great personality and attitude about life in general. (Mack is) the best.”
To read Erb’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/mackenzie-erb-0098871
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of Jan. 26, 2022.
In the age of social media, Freddie Retter represents something of a unicorn. Or, perhaps more fittingly, a fish out of water. Retter, a senior two-way football lineman and heavyweight wrestling star at Quakertown High School, recently committed to play college football at Kutztown University. In 2022, social media platforms are crucial cogs in the recruiting machine, which makes sense given that seemingly every teenager — and human being — on the planet is glued to their smartphones. All of them, that is, except Retter. Allow Quakertown head football coach George Banas to shed some light on Retter’s preference to live off the digital grid. “He had to make a Twitter profile for his recruitment, and he didn’t even have a picture for it,” Banas recalled with a laugh. “My wife is the team photographer, and we sent him a picture of Freddie as a freshman as a joke, because it’s so crazy looking at him now compared to when he was a freshman. The transformation he’s made has been unbelievable. But he is not into social media and the new age technology. He loves to hunt and fish, and he is incredibly proud of the old Pathfinder that he drives. He keeps a little to himself, but he’s a neat kid to be around.”
When you play two sports that are as physically and mentally taxing as Retter does, retreating into nature becomes an absolute necessity. But make no mistake about it, the football field and wrestling mat are Retter’s other happy places, and as Banas alluded to, Retter has undergone a complete transformation, from a decent athlete with potential to a major player in the Quakertown athletics community. First, with football, Banas knew the Retter family, so he knew coming in that Freddie was a hard worker. Banas’ first thoughts were that Retter would be an average program kid, someone who would eventually help the varsity team that may fall short of dominance. He was a starter as a sophomore, but it wasn’t until this season as a senior where Banas said Retter really made the leap as a game-changing player. In addition to his physical size, Retter, who is committed to continue his football career at Kutztown University, impressed with his quickness, athleticism and football intelligence. Both Banas and Handel remarked at the size of Retter’s giant hands that make your own disappear when wrapped in a handshake, and at a “lanky” 255 pounds, Retter’s lengthy arm span can move offensive and defensive linemen with relative ease. “As a defensive end, the other team won’t run his way, which shrunk the field for us and made us a better team because of it,” Banas said. “Offensively, he pass protects so well off of the edge, and his hidden talent is snapping. His long snaps are darts that will help him get on the field sooner at the next level.” The 2021 football season was a storybook one for Quakertown. The Panthers won the SOL Continental division with an undefeated 7-0 season and won 13 of their 14 games on the season, with the only blemish being a 58-39 loss to Garnet Valley in the district semifinals.
On the wrestling mat, it also took Retter some time to truly make his mark. He wrestled four matches as a freshman, going 2-2 at 182 pounds; as a sophomore, he had more opportunities wrestling at 195, but lost almost as much as he won in posting a 21-18 record. Retter ascended to the heavyweight weight class as a junior. Once Retter learned how to wrestle as a heavyweight in the 285-pound class, the results have been staggering: over the past two seasons, Retter has wrestled 57 total matches, winning 48 of them. “One of the biggest things I’ll miss is his smile and telling me at the end of every practice, ‘You have a good day, coach,’” Handel said. “This program has won the league title seven years in a row, and he has been a big part of that. I’m excited to see him move on and better himself at the next level, but we are going to miss him tremendously.” Banas concurred, but he took a more long-range view to Retter’s imminent Quakertown departure. “He was always my last handshake with a huge smile at every single practice,” the Panthers’ coach said. “These kids though, to me, they never leave. I’ve been doing this for 12 years, plus the five years before that as defensive coordinator, and I’m still running into kids I coached 15 years ago. Some of them text me to tell me they just had their first child. It’s a long relationship that never goes away. It’s reciprocal, and we have such a bond.”
To read Retter’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/freddie-retter-0098861
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