Football, Wrestling
Favorite athlete: Brian Dawkins
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Last year's game against Council Rock South we played in torrential downpour and what felt like hurricane winds. It was so cold and the rain was coming down so hard you could barely see the man lined up across from you. To finish it off we pulled off the victory.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: While playing football in sixth grade for Lower Makefield, I got hit so hard my coaches ran up to me and asked if I was okay. I told them I couldn’t see. They replied, “Open your eyes!!!”
Music on playlist: Classic Rock
Future plans: Play college football
Words to live by: “A strong man stands up for himself, A stronger man stands up for others”
One goal before turning 30: Have a career and make good money
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m a huge Star Wars nerd
By Craig Ostroff
During the climactic championship match in Rocky II, after taking a beating and being knocked down by champion Apollo Creed, Rocky Balboa sits in his corner between rounds and says six words to his trainer Mick before rallying and eventually winning the title.
“I ain’t going down no more.”
Council Rock North football coach John Greiner thinks about that scene often. First, because Rocky II is his favorite movie. But also because he sees the same attitude, the same fearlessness, the same refusal to stay down when senior Gavin Papp is on the field.
“Gavin is so tenacious and unrelenting and has that characteristic of never wanting to lose,” Greiner said. “He refuses to go down, refuses to lose, has that lionheart of a player, and not all players have that.
“The thing about Gavin that separates him from a lot of the other players I’ve coached over my 25-plus years is that Gavin not only wants to win for himself, he wants to win for his teammates, he wants to win for the CR North community, for his family. He represents himself, his school, and his community the right way, and he has broad shoulders to carry all those people with him along the way.”
Greiner points to a mid-September game that saw the Indians fall 35-14 to Souderton. Despite trailing by double-digits late in the game, Papp took the ball and stayed on his feet after taking the first hit from a Souderton defender … then a second defender … then a third …
“Gavin literally dragged a group of eight to 10 Souderton players an extra 10 yards in a game we were down by three touchdowns, he kept on churning and working like the workhorse he is, dragging those players along,” Greiner said. “Friday night against Truman (a 20-13 Indians’ victory in which Papp scored all three North touchdowns), I believe we had a first-and-10 at the 12. Gavin got hit at the 10, dragged a group of players down to the 1-inch line and the next play got a touchdown.
“That’s the analogy with Rocky. Gavin refuses to go down. It’s human nature for most of us, if we get hit, it’s easier to go down and lay down on the mat and get counted out. Gavin keeps on fighting. He will not go down.”
The recent victory provided a much-needed morale boost for a team whose hard work and improvement hasn’t always translated to victories. It snapped a five-game skid and keeps North in the running for a .500 overall record.
The victory also served as a massive lift for Greiner and the team, who had been through the emotional wringer for several weeks after the sudden passing of Greiner’s mother.
“We all knew what Coach Greiner was going through,” Papp said. “We all love Coach G and would do anything for him. It’s been a hard last month, so it was really nice to see him have a smile on his face.
“Winning that game boosted our morale so much, gets us on a positive foot going forward these next three games. Everyone played well, came together, and that’s what we wanted to see. We wanted to see how much we’ve progressed as players and a team up to now. We’re such a better team now than we were the first game of the season.”
What’s been they key, in Papp’s opinion? (Here’s a hint … if you think he’s going to point to the guy who scored the three touchdowns in the game, you’re very, very wrong).
“It’s really been everyone coming together as a team,” he said. “It’s all about teamwork. You can’t have I’s if you want to win. I can’t score a touchdown without my line blocking for me. You can’t have those stats without your teammates chipping in and making it all work.”
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With two victories—including their first league win of the season—under their belts, the Indians still have the opportunity to finish with a .500 record and pick up more than two league wins. Council Rock North has not accomplished either of those during Papp’s varsity tenure. But he and his teammates are willing to do what it takes to make it happen.
“It can be difficult, working so hard and you don’t get the results you want,” Papp said. “We’ve faced a lot of adversity in my four years, but we keep pushing no matter what. I feel like the things we go through, it builds your character so much. We know what we’re facing this year again. We’re all defining ourselves as the underdogs, but we’re going to keep bringing it every week.”
And while Papp would never take credit for the team’s attitude and improvement, Greiner is happy to heap praise on the senior running back/defensive back for his leadership.
“The way Gavin plays, the way he shows up whether it’s a game or practice or the weight room, he has done that the four years he’s been a varsity starter,” Greiner said. “He has worked hard, and we’ve made some gains as a program over the four years. Sometimes it’s baby steps, but he’s the guy who is bringing everyone together. He makes sure he leads by example by playing and being vocal, and he leads the players in a positive manner as much as he can.”
It's an attitude that Papp has carried with him for as long as he’s been playing sports. It’s about being the ultimate team player, doing whatever you need to do in order to lift up your teammates and bring the team to the next level. And it’s about doing it the right way … bringing honor to yourself, your family, your team, and your community.
“I love the position I’m in now,” Papp said. “I want to leave a legacy at this school. I’ve noticed the past two years that the younger players look up to me or look at how I work on the field or in practice. I want to be the best role model I can be for them, so that they can do the same for the next group of kids. So I have to be on my A-game all the time. I want that challenge to always be on my A-game.”
“When I got hired here in May 2019, I immediately invited all the incoming freshmen up,” Greiner said. “Gavin was one of the freshmen I invited up, and he didn’t miss a single workout. And that’s continued on through sophomore, junior, and now his senior season. Gavin has never a missed opportunity to become a better player. He took advantage of skills and drills, 7-on-7, workouts. He has met and exceeded all expectations in terms of who he is as a player and as a young man, on and off the field.
“We do middle school workouts and we invite the varsity players to work out with them, Gavin is always one of the first to show up, reach down and help the younger generation of Council Rock players. Middle school, youth camps, he is the first to sign up. He has a natural ability to communicate with younger kids. They respect him, and he has the ability to teach the game as well, and not a lot of high school players have that.”
*****
One prime aspect of being a team player is sacrificing for the good of the team. And while Papp shows this day in and day out, there may be no better example of his willingness to sacrifice personal glory for team success than during the winter season, when he steps off the gridiron and onto the wrestling mats for Council Rock North.
Papp, who wrestles at 189 or 215, has often found himself squaring off against an opposing team’s standout at one of those weights. Papp would still score critical points for the team, even if the result of the bout didn’t go in his favor.
“There were times last year we’d move him down or up based on our need,” Council Rock North wrestling coach Mike Diglia said. “Sometimes we’d use him strategically against a better kid so we could get more team points out of him, even if we didn’t win the match.
“Not every kid is willing to do that. He really is an amazing kid. Gavin is an absolute throwback. He embodies school spirit and community and being a multisport athlete, it’s something he prides himself on. Gavin looked up to Dillon Sheehy, who was a football player and wrestler here, and Gavin’s used Dillon’s model of putting in the hard work in both sports, and he’s in a good situation to have a really good senior year in both sports. Gavin is a football player by nature, but he’s an important part of the team culture we’re building here on the wrestling team. He loves being part of the team and contributing.”
And while Papp is first and foremost a football player, he brings the same mentality, the same refuse-to-lose attitude, and the same intensity to the wrestling season. His football background helped him with certain techniques on the mat. As for the rest of his wrestling game … just like in football, Papp worked tirelessly to improve.
“Taking down clicked for me,” said Papp, who dabbled in wrestling in middle school and joined the team in high school along with a number of other football players. “Other parts, like groundwork and things like that, my coaches taught me well, and I’ve gotten better through the years.
“It’s a different kind of sport than football, it can be more individualized because you’re out there alone, but I love cheering our guys on. You can hear it. It feels good when people are cheering for you, and you build off of that.
“I also think wrestling helps me stay in shape for football. My mom’s a phys ed teacher, so I’ve learned that it’s good to keep working different body parts, you get injured less. The muscles I don’t use as much in football, I do in wrestling. It keeps me healthy. I take pride in not just being a one-sport athlete. I think that’s something that needs to come back in high school sports. In high school, I feel like you should have the best athletes out there, so if you’re really good in three sports, you should be playing three sports. That builds more pride and culture in the school.”
Diglia has even seen Papp’s football mindset seep its way into the wrestling team, particularly in terms of the weight room.
“Gavin has really been a weight room leader for us,” Diglia said. “Football programs have a culture for lifting weights. Wrestlers don’t get as motivated. A wrestler might by nature be embedded in his sport and focusing on technique and skill rather than the physical training pieces. But Gavin has us seeing and believing, they’re embracing that energy.
“It’s amazing to see what he brings to this team, despite being focused on football the way he is. I watch him celebrate our successes, celebrating when a teammate wins and he’s as happy for them as he would be if he had won the match. He has a passion for his teammates. Gavin has this good, raw, pure energy, you can see it pouring out of him when guys win.”
Papp plans to bring that energy to whichever college football team is lucky enough to gain his services. Right now, he is still considering all of his options. He’s leaning toward sports medicine or possibly following in his mother’s footsteps and becoming a phys ed teacher. But while he’s not yet sure of his field of study or even where he’ll end up, he does know he will be suiting up on fall Saturdays.
He’s just looking for that perfect fit.
“I told myself my freshman year, ‘I’m going to play college football,’” Papp said. “My love for the sport has grown more and more, and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. I definitely will be playing college football.
“The recruiting process has been a lot, it’s stressful, but at the end of the day, I just want to be wanted. When it comes to all these big schools, do I want to stand on the sidelines or do I want to play football? I want to be out there playing. I want to be surrounded by people with same goals and mindset as me. I want to be a part of a team that’s tight knit, that lives and dies for this sport. That’s what I want to be around.”
But Papp’s not ready to trade in the blue and gray just yet. He’s still got a foundation to help lay for the football team, and still wants to serve as a positive force for his teammates, his school, and his community.
“My entire wardrobe is Council Rock North football shirts,” he said. “I want to be looked at as a good person, to represent my school and my community the best that I can. I want to put the younger guys on the team in a good position to take the next steps in the next couple seasons. That’s something Coach Greiner has instilled in us since we were freshmen: make the name on the back of your shirt proud. I want to make my family and my school proud.”
Greiner has no doubt that Papp’s influence on the Council Rock North football team, the school, and the community will be felt for quite some time even after he’s graduated.
“You watch ESPN and someone makes a fancy play on the field or on the court, and the next day, people are trying to emulate that,” Greiner said. “I hope that our younger players will emulate Gavin’s mentality as well as his play. Because the younger guys do see the way he presents himself, modeling what a successful student-athlete looks like. He makes sure his grades are aboveboard and he shows up on time, and that means being there early and being ready to rock-and-roll. You would hope that the younger players see that, because that’s what success looks like.
“I remember Jerome Bettis getting in the NFL Hall of Fame. When he gave his speech, he said the most important thing was the name on the back of the jersey. Gavin knows the importance of the name, and that’s what people are going to remember. They’re not going to remember number 15 or how many yards he ran for or how many touchdowns he had. But they’ll remember his name. The Papp name—and everything he does to make that name proud—is the legacy he’s leaving here.”
