Football, Basketball, Baseball
Favorite athlete: Brian Dawkins
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating PW my senior year
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Shorts fell down during basketball game.
Music on iPod: Wide range of music
Future plans: Got to college then possibly law school
Words to live by: “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” –Vince Lombardi
One goal before turning 30: Travel abroad
One thing people don’t know about me: I love the beach.
By GORDON GLANTZ
Matt Thompson’s athleticism and leadership skills were not all he brought to coach Bret Stover’s Upper Dublin football team as a wide receiver/defensive back.
The Univest Featured Male Athlete of the Week contributed a measure of wisdom well beyond his years.
“I always had some good role models, especially sports-wise,” explained the senior, who has quickly shifted gears from the gridiron to the hardwood, where he is a returning starter as a combo guard. “My brother (Andrew Thompson, who played at the Haverford School) and my cousin (Anthony Cognetti, a starting linebacker for La Salle High’s 2009 state championship team) – we all learned from my grandfather (Dominic Matteo). We learned to be respectful athletes who play the game correctly, hold ourselves with honor and not do anything you would be ashamed of.”
And he relishes the notion that he not only upheld the rich tradition but will be able to pass it down to following generations.
He can tell them that he was a team captain and the guy giving impassioned pep talks for a team that made school history.
“Being a former quarterback, I have always been a leader,” said Thompson, who converted to receiver in his junior year, his first as a starter on both sides of the ball. “We had a tight-knit group of captains. We all knew our roles, and we all knew what it took (to win).
“I was more of the pre-game, rah-rah guy.”
Thompson, who added his pregame speeches “just sort of came to me,” can tell future Thompsons that he was the wide receiver that he could hear opposing defenses hollering, pre-snap, to watch out for and that he used that as motivation to make the big play.
Although the hurt from a narrow loss to Pennsbury in a district semifinal fray still lingered, his wisdom remained.
“Obviously, playing three playoff games and winning two of those games, it means a lot,” he said. “We made history for the school. It was a historic run and kind of surreal when it was happening. Looking back, I know I’m going to be real proud of it.
“I’m the youngest in a family of athletes who have always been on successful teams. It feels good to know you have done it, too. It’s going to be a good story to tell when I get older.”
Going the Distance
Thompson was quick to point that Upper Dublin, unlike Pennsbury, did not have the “luxury” of having enough top-shelf athletes to have mostly one-way players.
“The majority of our team goes both ways,” he said, adding that it was strange to try and elude the same players that he had to cover as a safety.
“As a wide receiver, you are going against the same guys,” he said. “That’s why I like playing strong safety, and being able to hit guys.”
He did more than hit. While recording 57 tackles, he caused three fumbles and recovered another. He also picked off two passes.
While the dream season became a war of attrition for players like Thompson, nothing was left on the field.
“Later in the year, teams would double-cover me and line up more players on my side,” he said, adding that he was in such a zone in a playoff game against West Chester Rustin that he wanted the ball on every play.
“That mentality boosts your confidence. It keeps you going.”
And his coach became his biggest fan.
“Matt had an exceptional senior campaign for Upper Dublin this fall,” said Stover. “Matt was chosen as a captain by his teammates, he led the (Suburban One League American Conference) and most of the area in receptions (57), touchdown catches with 10 and yards receiving (819).
“Matt was our go-to guy. Other teams knew it and he often drew double coverage, yet still found ways to get open. Matt was chosen as a unanimous first team SOL American wide receiver and defensive back for his hard work on the field this fall.
“Matt is the kind of player who would never come off the field and the kind of player that makes everyone around him better.”
Change is Good
When it came to organized football, Thompson was always a quarterback. The ball was in his hands. It was his show, and he relished the chance to make things happen.
It continued early in his high school year, quarterbacking the junior varsity team and getting some varsity snaps as a sophomore.
However, as all good quarterbacks do, he saw what he was up against and called an audible.
A senior captain was ahead of him on the depth chart and Ryan Stover, the quintessential coach’s son trained to be a quarterback while still in diapers was behind him.
“Instead of sitting on the bench, I tried wide receiver,” said Stover.
He kind of had an inkling it would work out.
When it came to more disorganized football – with cadences of “One-Mississippi, Two-Mississippi” – he knew he had the right stuff.
“I kind of knew, ever since playing at recess, that I had been able to catch a football,” he said. “As it turned out, Ryan Stover had been perfectly fine at quarterback.”
Especially with Thompson as his favorite target.
“It kind of all came naturally,” said Thompson, adding that being a quarterback meant he instinctively had a feel for timing and route-running.
A Man for all Seasons
While the long football season meant a short recovery time before basketball, he plans to finish up in the spring with his second year on the varsity baseball team.
Some three-sport athletes say their favorite sport is whatever is happening at the time.
Not for Thompson.
“My favorite is football,” he said. “You just can’t duplicate football.”
That being said, his football-playing days may have ended.
“I thought about it, but there hasn’t been much interest so far (from colleges),” said Thompson, who readily added that he “hasn’t really put (himself) out there.”
His parents, Bill and Marie, are both lawyers. While he could easily play football at some level, maybe even as a walk-on candidate at his beloved Villanova, his sights are set on majoring in business and/or law and a large school.
And he really doesn’t want to stay any closer to home that Penn State, with other schools on his list ranging from California to the Deep South.
“Once I get to college, something could change,” offered the member of the National Honors Society who said time management of a student-athlete is often “challenging.”
And if nothing changes, he has provided himself with a terrific story to tell.
“Last year, we lost in the first round of the playoffs,” he said. “We had a young team last year. We returned a lot of starters. We had experience, and it showed.”
