TOWAMENCIN – Dave Shearer recognizes he’s part of something special, and the senior tight end doesn’t take the success of his North Penn football team for granted.
Not for a minute.
“It’s just amazing to be part of something bigger than yourself,” Shearer said. “I could see it since I was in 10th grade that we had the talent to be this good.
“It’s amazing. I’m so happy I stuck with it.”
Not that he was seriously considering quitting. It’s just that last year this time, Shearer as well as teammates Justin Bathurst, Matt Wilson, Drew Brady, Joe Godio and Casey Reim were languishing on the scout team, uncertain whether they’d ever see varsity playing time.
This year, the six seniors are key contributors on a Knight squad that will be playing for the District One AAAA title when North Penn will face Neshaminy in an all-SOL showdown at William Tennent High School on Friday night.
“What the fear is when you have a big school like North Penn is that there are a lot of kids who don’t get an opportunity,” Knight coach Dick Beck said. “The reality is it’s just a higher level of competition to compete for the jobs.
“You have kids who are juniors who aren’t starting who are playing on the scout team. I don’t want to say they’re waiting their turn because they want to be varsity starters, but they know they’re not the starter, so they work their butt off on the scout team for the opportunity to start.
“These are guys going into the season and maybe going through last year that I thought might never play varsity. Not only have they been starters, they’ve been more than solid.”
Each of the six seniors has their own story to tell.
Reim came from the scout team to earn second team all-league honors at defensive tackle.
“Last year on the scout team, I just tried to play my part and get the first team guys better,” he said. “This year when the seniors graduated and it was our turn to step up, I just played my part.”
If it seems as though Reim might be celebrating his second team honor, guess again. This young player aimed for the stars.
“I was hoping for first team,” he said. “I was working really hard over the summer – lifting, conditioning and running, so I could get faster and stronger and just all around a better D-tackle.”
Shearer was benched after the team’s first scrimmage but found his way into the starting lineup at tight end.
“I was doubting at first whether I would be back on the starting team,” he said. “I just worked hard until I got noticed and found a spot on the team I could start at.
“I had a great mentor in front of me – Shaun Moore. I learned blocking techniques, just fighting through it and keep working hard.”
In a testament to how far he has come, Shearer was named the offensive player of the game in the trenches in North Penn’s big win over Downingtown West last Friday.
Wilson had the toughest road of the six seniors as he was forced to deal with the illness and death of his grandfather, who passed away the day of North Penn’s first game against Souderton.
“It was tough to play after that happened,” he said. “I never experienced anyone in my family dying before, and it was tough.”
The chain of events forced Wilson to miss some practices, and he seriously contemplated quitting but – at the encouragement of his parents – stuck with it.
“I had doubts,” he said. “I asked myself, ‘Should I keep going through this? Should I finish it out?’”
Wilson, by his own admission, has learned some valuable life lessons from his experiences on the gridiron.
“When I first got on this team, I didn’t realize there was going to be that much discipline, that much commitment,” he said. “It gives you a taste of the real world, and it prepares you.”
The senior offensive lineman came off the bench in his team’s district win over Abington and performed well. Wilson started against Downingtown West and will be in the starting lineup when the Knights line up against the Redskins on Friday night.
As a junior, Godio was an offensive plug-in – the running back who came in when the game was out of hand and got some touches. This year, he earned third team all-league honors at safety where – according to Beck – he is the defensive safety net for the Knights who makes all the calls in the secondary.
“The key to it is hard work and believing you can do it,” he said. “During the offseason, I wasn’t getting that much starting PT, and I didn’t know if I would get playing time because there are so many good players.
“But I just kept working hard, and I got my chance.”
Bathurst, according to Beck, was ‘a play away from sitting on the bench’ but battled back to earn a starting position at guard. He received honorable mention all-league honors.
“You always have to keep working at it,” he said. “You have to keep it in the back of your mind that it will pay off, and it did for me.
“You never doubt yourself. You always have to believe in yourself, always believe you can start and you can be a contributor to the team.”
Brady earned third team honors at defensive tackle after starting the year as a second string offensive lineman.
“I got one chance to play defense, and I went with that,” he said. “It was an offensive drill, and I got to play scout team D-lineman. They gave me a chance, and I just worked my butt off.
“All of us worked real hard all of last year on the scout team, and we knew the experience of going against the first team would help us in the long run.”
The senior tackle enjoys the challenge of playing for a big-time program.
“It would probably be easier at a smaller school, but it wouldn’t be as much fun,” Brady said. “You don’t earn your position that way. (At North Penn), you know if you work hard, you might have a chance. The coaches respect that.”
Talk to Beck, and it’s clear the Knights’ coach respects and values the contributions of his players who have stepped up from the scout team to fill key roles.
“These are the guys who make up our team,” he said. “Obviously, you have your stars that everybody knows about, but you want to be good one through 11, and these are your five to six through 11.
“I’m sure there’s a sense of uncertainty – ‘It’s my senior year. Am I going to be able to get on the field?’ A couple of those guys were actually benched after the first scrimmage and got back in the starting lineup and became very good players.”
The Knights have not lost in 12 games, and on Friday night, they will play for the district crown when they takes the field against Neshaminy.
“It’s amazing,” Reim said. “It’s indescribable. Being on this team and getting this far – it’s really fun.”
“It’s a lot of fun,” Godio said. “I have played with most of these kids since I was four or five years old. Just growing up and watching their progression and playing on a team like this – it’s just been great.”
“It’s just unreal,” Bathurst added. “It’s what I love to do. It’s the best part of my life.”
There’s no mistaking how much these seniors value the experience of playing for North Penn’s football program.
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