SELINSGROVE — Every football player who was ever chased down or run over by Spencer Myers might gladly have given the Selinsgrove defensive tackle some advice eight years ago when Myers decided to switch sports.

It was before his fourth grade year that Myers had to choose between soccer and football.

Looking back, Myers thinks he just might have been a good soccer player. But as a key member of the Seals' 2009 Class AAA state championship team in football, and an all-state selection, Myers has no reason for regrets.

Myers had just about the best senior athletic season anyone could imagine. After winning a state gold medal in football (finishing 16-0), he won another one as an individual in wrestling with an unbeaten season, and finished one place shy of claiming yet a third state medal in track and field.

For those accomplishments, Myers, son of Todd and Julia Myers, was chosen as The Daily Item Male Athlete of the Year.

When told of the honor, Myers, who is headed to the University of Maryland on a wrestling scholarship, said he was proud to be selected because it helped validate the hard work he put into making his dreams become reality.

"I put a lot of time and effort and dedication and heart into everything I do," he said. "It's one of those honors where I know everyone has seen me play and it's important to me because everyone has seen how much time and effort I put into it and it really showed."

Everything Myers accomplished as a senior was especially satisfying because of the disappointments of his junior year.

Of this year's success, he said, "It was huge. After what happened in football my junior year, when we made it so far, but our dream slipped away from us when we lost 13-7 (to Archbishop Wood in the state semifinal), it was great this year to be able to win it."

The Seals beat Archbishop Wood 28-0 in the semis then rallied for a 10-7 victory over Manheim Central in the championship game.

■ On to the mats

Myers was injured in the state final at 215 pounds as a junior and settled for the silver medal.

"My dad (Todd is the Seals' head wrestling coach) and I always dreamed of me winning a state title with him as the coach, so to win it with my dad being there ...winning two (gold medals) in one year, well a lot of people dream of it and it doesn't happen, a lot of people dream of winning one. It was a great feeling and a great accomplishment," he said.

Winning two golds, he was told, put him on a list of athletes that includes current Ohio State University quarterback Terrell Pryor, who won gold in football and basketball at Jeannette.

"It's a great feeling," he said, adding, "And being a three-time state finalist this year, that was a great feeling."

Myers wanted badly to win that third medal in one school year, but, after qualifying for the state track and field meet in the discus throw as the 13th seed in Class AAA, he finished ninth, one spot out of getting that medal.

Both he and throwing coach George Hummel agreed that Myers' wrestling injury set him back as a junior and gave him less of an opportunity to win a state medal.

But Hummel, who is also Myers' uncle, added, "We were going seven days a week trying to make up for last year. What he did, he did mostly in one year. As a freshman and sophomore he was running hurdles besides throwing the discus. He is just a great athlete. I was pleased with his performance at states."

Hummel noted that Myers had throws of 154 feet, 5 inches (his second best of the season) and 154-2, both of which would have medaled the previous year.

"There was a very good group of throwers in the discus this year. I was not disappointed with his performances, but I know potentially he could have had a lot better throw. We got as much as we could get out of him in one year," Hummel said.

Todd Myers and football coach Dave Hess got a lot out of him, too.

Myers went 44-0 on the mat to complete his career at 149-18, then added a win over then No. 1 in the nation Trevor Rupp of Idaho at the Dapper Dan Classic in Pittsburgh. In football, Myers had 68 tackles, seven sacks and three fumble recoveries, and was especially dominating in the playoffs.

■ Late bloomer

According to Todd Myers, his son had a slow start as a wrestler, but eventually his hard work paid off.

"He took his lickings early on," he said, noting that because of his size, as an elementary wrestler, he was competing against fifth, sixth and seventh graders.

Myers said that it's a tough situation being a father. "I would push to do this or that and he's still pushing back and I said 'OK, when you're ready to do it, that's when we'll do it."

When that day came, and Spencer decided that is what he wanted to do, because he wanted to be a state champion, Todd and Julia began to take their son on the road to as many camps and tournaments as possible.

"When he started doing more of that, that's when his dream became more of a reality," coach Myers said.

Hess added, "He is a physical specimen. He is tough as nails without even trying to be tough. He was born tough."

The head football coach said that the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Myers was the most coachable kid he encountered in 28 years of coaching. "He is the only Spencer Myers type we ever had and maybe ever will have. I hate to see him go."

In an era where multi-sport athletes have become the exception rather than the norm, Myers' hard work in his three sports made him a better football player, Hess said.

"He is incredibly explosive and the fact that he is a three-sport athlete rounds him out as a football player," Hess said.

"There are so many things he can do as a wrestler that a lot of (football players) can't do — great control, moving down low, he is great on his feet, has great balance."

So Spencer Myers now moves on to college, where he hopes to win a national title in wrestling. And, while wrestling is his focus, neither Spencer nor Todd will rule out the possibility that there is some football in his future as well.

Todd noted that many of the coaches and scouts who showed little or no interest in his son as a football player began contacting him after his outstanding play in the state playoffs and again after he stood out enough to be named Defensive Co-MVP earlier this month of the New Jersey vs. Northeast All-Star Football Classic at Rutgers University.

"There are enough college wrestlers who have gone on and played at the next level," Hess said. "As long as you are a great athlete, they are not too worried about the Xs and Os. The way he has played, I wouldn't rule any of that stuff out. He's proven himself in a lot of ways this year what he is capable of athletically, and I would never count him out of being able to accomplish his goals."

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