Football
Favorite athlete: Eric Berry
Favorite team: Kansas City Chiefs
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning the SOL championship this year
Funniest moment competing in sports: Sliding in the mud at practice my junior year with the whole team
Music on mobile device: I listen to jay z , Tupac, and a rapper named Kur
Favorite motto: “You’re never out of the fight.” From the movie Lone Survivor
One goal by time I’m 30: Have a good paying job and a family
One thing people don’t know about me: My biggest fear is horses
By Ed Morrone
In 2018, the devil was in the details for Marc Macione and the Abington football program.
The Galloping Ghosts had a talented squad last year, but little mistakes added up and prevented them from their ultimate goal of reaching the playoffs. A fumble or dropped pass here, an inopportune holding or offside penalty there, and the Ghosts found themselves on the outside looking in. Abington lost its final two games by one score, and Macione, who was named second team all-league at linebacker as a junior, knew some things needed to change if he was going to get back to the playoffs one more time, the first since he was a backup player as a freshman.
“As soon as last season ended, we had a little time off and then we were right back in the weight room,” said Macione. “We put in more disciplined drills this offseason, suicides and conditioning things that help win those close games the more disciplined you are.
“If someone doesn’t get a holding penalty or go offsides, those kinds of things can flip a game around. They did last year. We haven’t had many close games this season, in part because of those drills. Discipline breeds blowouts, and we’ve had a lot of them. We put our heads down and got back to basics, just doing the simple things.”
Macione, who was named a team captain prior to the season, also saw a need to reshuffle some of the Abington team culture. Not a complete overhaul, mind you, just some tweaks here and there. More of those little details that add up over time.
“A lot of young guys had to step up this year, and they were hungry,” Macione said. “Last year, and I don’t want to talk down to that team, but I think guys were kind of okay with where they were at. This year we had more guys wanting to earn their spot and prove it. That hunger and drive and will - everybody wanted to be at practice. We all liked that energy and each other. From last year to this year, I just think everybody was more on the same page. Now, we’re all on board.”
The results have been loud and undeniable. Prior to last week’s non-league loss to Central Bucks West, Abington had won eight straight games. The Ghosts went an undefeated 6-0 in league play, claiming the SOL National crown by a game over Pennsbury; it was Abington’s first league title since 2011, which was on the team’s checklist of goals, the same it is every year.
Each season, Macione explained, the Abington program has three goals: beat Cheltenham, the team’s local rival; win the league; and get a home playoff game.
Check, check and check.
“We wrote it down and looked at that board every day,” Macione said. “This year, with everyone on board, we wanted to check those three things off. And we did.”
Macione has been with the varsity program since freshman year, but his path to star linebacker took a few twists and turns first. He didn’t play much that year, and for a short time Macione was a quarterback prospect due to his strong arm as a baseball player. But Macione was always destined to be a defensive player, and when the team needed someone to step in at defensive end in 2017, he quickly volunteered.
Although the Ghosts missed the playoffs that year, Macione’s play stood out, and head coach Kevin Conlin began transitioning Macione to linebacker, expressing a desire to put the tenacious defender around the ball more frequently. He’s stuck at linebacker ever since, but Macione maintains the fact that the bouncing around those first two seasons only made him a more well-rounded football player.
“In a program like this, it’s tough to get playing time, especially in your younger years,” Macione said. “You fit in wherever the team needs you. I bounced around a bit, and you get used to playing multiple positions. I’d move to linebacker for a practice, then back to end, and I’d play special teams packages too. In our program, it’s ‘we over me,’ so I just got used to moving around.”
Macione called himself “super raw” as a linebacker heading into his junior year, so he placed all of his trust into the Abington coaching staff, namely Conlin and the linebackers coach. Using his hands as weapons was the biggest leap Macione felt he needed to make, especially in a conference overstocked with enormous offensive linemen. Additionally, Macione had to get his hands and feet working in tandem simultaneously to become a more downhill type player, as opposed to just fitting in space and containing, as he did on the defensive line.
Conlin noticed a definitive difference in Macione’s approach between his junior and senior seasons, most notably in how he conducted himself after being named a captain.
“The biggest thing Marc has really shown for us is that he’s an excellent leader on the defensive side of the ball,” Conlin said. “Not just on the field, but in the offseason; over the summer he and a few others took it upon themselves to become leaders of the program.
“As good as he was as a linebacker, we needed seniors to step up, and it’s not an easy job to do. We always tell the kids that it’s not a popular position, but it’s rewarding. The biggest instrument in our success is how active Marc has been in so many different areas. He’s really flourished as another coach on the field, and he really helped our program take the next step this season.”
From his standpoint, Macione said Abington getting humbled by CB West last week was the best possible thing that could have happened heading into the playoffs. He admitted the team entered its game with the Bucks feeling a little cocky, having won eight consecutive games.
“We didn’t do our jobs, and they were hungry coming off a loss,” Macione said. “We got our doors blown off, hats off to them. But it brought us back to earth, and for us there’s not a better scenario to be in going into the playoffs. It was the perfect storm of what could happen to us. We didn’t even watch the CB West film, we just got right into PW. Everybody knows they have a job to do on every single play; if we put that together, we should be all right.”
Regardless of how many postseason games Abington wins, Macione will walk away from this season with a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. He spoke of being inside Abington’s gym as a freshman, staring up at the banners on the wall that commemorated league titles won. Macione wanted to be one of the guys who brought a league championship back to the school and community that supports the program so steadfastly, and he completed that goal in his final attempt. Sure, Abington wants to knock off the visiting Colonials and go on a run; maybe the Ghosts will win the district, or maybe they’ll be one-and-done the same way they were Macione’s freshman campaign.
Either way, the fact that his legacy is ending this way means more to Macione than he can express in words.
“It means almost everything to me,” he said. “I’ve worked my whole life with Abington. When I came into the program, we weren’t the best. You don’t always get a home game in the district playoffs, so to not have to get on a bus on Friday, to get to stay where we are and play in front of a great community with my best friends, it’s something that’s hard for me to describe. It’s surreal, just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
While football season will inevitably end soon, Macione still has much to accomplish in his time left at Abington. For starters, he’s also a corner outfielder, infielder and pitcher for the school’s baseball team, so Macione has that to look forward to in the spring. He’s also excited to figure out where he’ll be going to school next year, and whether or not football will be part of that plan.
For starters, the desire to play is definitely there, at any level, from Division-I all the way down to junior college. Macione likes the idea, but he’s also not letting football dictate his next move, either. He’s got lots to figure out, and if football makes sense and the right opportunity comes along that lines up with Macione’s academic interests, then sure, he’ll play.
But those academic interests are wide and varied. Macione, a strong student who is a member of the National Honor Society, is drawn to math and science courses that challenge students to solve a problem (he singled out a Forensics class that he especially liked). Macione said he’s always loved the idea of being a chiropractor, so maybe he’ll do that. He also has been exposed to working with children who have special needs, a vocation he is passionate about. Or better yet, he might not go to college at all, saying that he could end up joining the Navy and following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who was a SEAL. Law enforcement is something that interests him too, especially after taking the forensics class.
Point is, there’s a plethora of options on the table, and Macione doesn’t want to tie himself down to any one thing just yet.
“I’m kind of all over the place,” he said with a laugh.
Wherever he ends up, Macione is confident that his time as a student-athlete at Abington has adequately prepared him for what comes next. He’s not ready for it to be over just yet, and reflecting on the last four years is enough to fill his body with goosebumps.
“It’s definitely emotional,” he said. “This team and this school has been my life for the last four years. I’m starting to realize, ‘Hey, it’s not done yet, but it’s definitely close and can’t last forever. Coming in here, I had a dream about being a guy on the team that everyone can count on, someone who would be remembered for years to come.
“When I first came here and stood in the gym, I saw we hadn’t had a league title banner since 2011. I had four years to work my butt off and do what I had to do to put that banner back up there. And if I touched people on the team personally not just because of the football player I was but because of who I was as a person, that’s how I want to be remembered. Someone who was good on the field but a better person and man off of it. That’s what this program does - it changes you. It might be a cliché, but it’s true: you come in as a boy, and leave as a man.
“It’s hard to think about it being over, but I learned so many positive lessons, about football and being a man. I get emotional just thinking about it, but when I look back on it when it’s over — and even now — I know I’ll never forget this program.”
