Hamburg’s Mason Semmel never wrestles with his decision to play three sports
(Sixth in a seven-part series.)
It’s always been about football for Mason Semmel; always will be.
He’s been in love with the game for as long as he can remember; it’s constantly on his mind.
“Any time I can get a football workout in, I’m doing it,” said Hamburg’s rising senior tight end.
That doesn’t mean he’s about to give up wrestling. He wouldn’t think of it. It’s too important to him.
“Wrestling teaches you something that only wrestling can teach you,” said the Hawks’ 215-pounder. “You have to be so strong and tough. It’s the hardest sport. I love football more, but I’ll tell you: Wrestling is the hardest sport out there. It’s one-on-one; you can’t hide behind anyone else.”
The toughness he has gained from wrestling, as well as the explosion that was so vital in him earning a district medal in the shot put, are part of a complete package that will make the 6-3 1/2, 225-pound Semmel one of the top players in Section 5 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League this season.
He was a bit of a secret weapon for the Hawks last season when he emerged to catch 21 passes, five for touchdowns, from his spot at tight end.
He’ll be an even bigger threat now that he’s some 30 pounds stronger, and faster, as well. He recently ran a laser-timed 4.71 in the 40, some two-tenths of a second faster than a year ago.
With 1,000-yard back Mason Pierce graduated, another Mason will become one of the focal points of the Hawks’ offense. They’ll move him around from tight end to H-back to split end.
“He’s got the perfect body build for it,” said Hawks coach Matt Hoffert.
Semmel lined up at offensive tackle as a sophomore. Hoffert, entering his first season as head coach, noticed him plucking balls out of the air one-handed during some downtime in the gym and thought: We’ve got to take advantage of this.
“There’s no way he should be a linemen,” Hoffert says, shaking his head in disbelief.
Semmel will be the focus of the Hawks’ new-look defense, too. He lined up as an edge pass rusher and recorded 16.5 tackles for loss and five sack as a junior. This season he’ll line up at the ‘Mike’ linebacker spot in the middle of a 3-5 alignment and have free rein to chase down the football.
“He’s free to the ball, hit a gap and go,” Hoffert said. “That’s perfect for a guy like that. He likes coming downhill and hitting somebody.”
Semmel hasn’t enjoyed the same kind of success on the wrestling mat as he has on the football field, where he was a Section 5 all-league pick at linebacker and a second-team pick at tight end for a Hamburg team that won nine games and reached the district semifinals.
He went 20-15 with 15 falls, three in the District 3 Class 2A sectionals, where he finished third. That was a big improvement from his sophomore season, when he won just seven matches and was pinned 10 times.
His Hamburg coach, Glenn Miller, called it a big transition year for him.
“He started to believe in himself,” said Miller, who expects even much more success for Semmel as a senior, possibly even a berth in the state tournament. “He can win a lot of matches; he’s right there.”
Semmel was a late-comer to track and field. He did it, really, just for fun, and to be involved with his friends. He didn’t have big expectations when he first picked up a shot put but there he was on the medal stand at the District 3 Class 2A championship, collecting a fifth-place medal after uncorking a personal best 45-8.5.
It came as a surprise.
“I started off (this season) throwing 36, 37,” he said. “If you know anything about the shot put, that’s not that good.”
He worked throughout the spring on his technique and by early May was well over 40 feet. His throw at districts topped his previous best by more than 18 inches.
That only served to whet his appetite.
“My goal is to break the school record,” he said, looking at the 50-foot mark, owned by Steve Rhoads. “I’m going to keep trying to push toward that.”
For now, and for the next six months, his focus will be solely on football; he doesn’t train specifically for or compete in wrestling or track during the summer (though his constant weight room workouts will aid each).
His summer calender is filled with prospect camps at Penn, Lehigh, Colgate, Lafayette and others. In June he competed at a camp at St. Francis and came home with a scholarship offer.
You can ascertain from that list of camp invites that Semmel is as a good in the classroom as he is on the football field. Better, actually; he’s a straight-A student.
He attacks his classwork with the same discipline and persistence he displays in the weight room. He does his home work as soon as gets home from football practice . . . then he studies football film. He has his priorities in order.
“I try to stay ahead of everything,” he said. “You have to focus on what’s really important.”
He admits he has thought about dropping his winter or spring sport in order to spend more time on football and academics, the things that will carry him farthest, but that’s as far as it goes; a thought, nothing more.
“In wrestling, there’s a lot of mental toughness, which helps me a lot in football,” he said. “You’re on that mat by yourself, it’s all you. You need to beat your person one-on-one. It helps me get mentally tough and stronger.”
