By Alex Frazier
Few athletes look at their senior year as a fresh start.
But that’s just what Brian McCauley is doing.
For the past four years, McCauley wrestled at Germantown Academy. This year, however, he decided to transfer back to his local high school in Souderton.
“GA, school-wise, wasn’t the best fit for me,” he said. “It was a great team, great coaches, but I feel that at Souderton I’m a lot better academically. I love Souderton. It couldn’t be any better.”
As much as GA coach Steve Hill will miss him, Stan Smith welcomes him with open arms. McCauley will add another dimension to a young and growing Souderton program.
“It’s a nice surprise that it happened,” said Smith, who actually expected to get McCauley last year. “I’m also disappointed that he didn’t spend his whole career at Souderton.”
For his part, McCauley is glad to be back with the friends he wrestled with on the Souderton Youth Wrestling team, kids like Joe Stolfi, John Lewis and Dan and Dave McPherson, Peter Jenne and Chris Force.
“It was pretty exciting to see all the kids I used to go to school with,” he said. “Just being able to finish up high school with them is pretty exciting.”
McCauley was particularly looking forward to the start of school this year, but he had to wait because the Souderton teachers went out on strike for three weeks.
McCauley is also looking forward to his first experience wrestling in the Suburban One League.
“I’m really excited to get back into wrestling PIAA, and ultimately my goal is to win states this year,” he said.
That’s a lofty goal, but he’s used to that caliber of competition.
At Germantown Academy, he qualified three times for the National Prep Tournament, took two second at the Private Schools State Tournament and won the GA Tournament twice. He also competed in the prestigious Beast of the East and Ironman tournaments.
“He’s been exposed to some of the best wrestling in the country,” said Hill. “He has a sense of what it’s going to take for him to succeed.”
Hill, who wrestled for Council Rock, thinks McCauley should be successful, given the tough competition he faced at GA.
“He’s going to do well,” he said. “He always has in his back pocket that headlock, a five-point move that’s a match changer.”
That could be a factor come the post-season tournaments, which Hill said he could do well in.
“When he wrestled for us, there was at least one match a year where it would come down to Brian being the last match and we were either tied or behind, and he came through with a win or a pin,” he said. “That will help him as far as being a leader for Souderton and as far as advancing in the tournaments. He has a lot of things going for him.”
Last year McCauley wrestled mostly 135-140, but this year he will drop to 130, which should give him an even better chance to achieve his goal.
This year McCauley is also re-united with his brother Mike, who wrestled for Souderton and went to states his senior year for Smith. He is now finishing up his degree in criminal justice at Delaware Valley College and is Smith’s assistant.
McCauley’s senior year will be put on hold, however. Friday after Thanksgiving, he hurt his knee in practice. He will be getting an MRI to determine if his meniscus is torn. If so, he will be out three to four weeks.
“I’ll be all right,” he said. “I’ll be back.”
Even though McCauley may be shelved for a while, Smith expects him to be an asset in the wrestling room.
“I’m sure he’ll help as far as showing what a real wrestler looks like when he wrestles,” he said. “He might motivate the kids to work a little harder. Some of the younger ones don’t even know how to practice or drill, so whenever you have someone with experience that is an example of what you should be like, it always helps.
“And if he should do well this year, any positive outcome will be good for the program.”
McCauley said he would wait until the end of wrestling season to make his college choice. Right now the top two choices are Purdue and Del Val.
“Two weeks ago, I got my Letter of Intent from Purdue University,” he said.
He wants to major in pre-med.
Once his knee heals, McCauley should be ready to go. He worked out all summer at Del Val, which he said will help him. He also competed in the East Coast Duals.
“I trained really hard this summer getting ready for a big season,” he said.
“He’s done all the stuff he needs to do to get himself challenged and get himself ready,” said Hill.
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