Feaster ready to lead for Methacton
WORCESTER >> The upcoming season is one that Dylan Feaster has been anticipating for quite some time. He played Pop Warner football for the Methacton Wolverines, began seeing varsity playing time for the Warriors as a sophomore, started last season as a junior and is now one of the team leaders heading into his senior season.
Methacton had 17 seniors on 2014’s squad that went 8-3 and finished second in the Pioneer Athletic Conference. This year, the team has six upperclassmen.
“I’m already taking kids aside just teaching them exactly the fundamentals,” Feaster, who is one of only three players on the team with starting experience, said after the first day of full-contact practice last week. “As of now — since we’re just beginning — just the little things … because they are all young so the experience isn’t there yet. I’m taking it slow, teaching them slowly, and eventually they will get to speed.”
The 6-foot-2 (6-foot-4 if you count his mohawk) 170-pound strong safety and wide receiver is the prototypical team leader. He has come up through the Methacton program and got where he is through a rock-solid work ethic.
“Dylan from his sophomore year on has been a hard worker striving to be the best he can be at his position,” head coach Paul Lepre said. “He found himself some playing time as a sophomore and then with continued hard work found himself as a starter last year at both wide out and strong safety. Fundamentally he is very sound. He works hard at reading offenses and being able to put himself into position to make plays.”
This is the first time that Feaster goes into the season knowing that he is the starter on both sides of the ball. He is not going to get complacent, however, and let that comfort level effect his preparation.
“I’m still going to work hard every single day and go 100 percent,” Feaster said. “I know that if I don’t go 100 percent the young kids are looking up to me. If I don’t go 100 percent, they won’t go 100 percent. I just need to realize that everything I do reflects on the younger kids who look up to me.”
Feaster has always played safety on defense and moved from running back to wide receiver his sophomore year after a growth spurt. Last season he caught six passes for 65 yards.
“He is a good cover guy,” Lepre said of Feaster as a safety, “but as far as coming up and fitting in and filling, he does a great job. That’s his best asset on defense — as a run stopper.
“I wouldn’t say he is gifted speed-wise,” Lepre added about him as a receiver, “but he is one of those guys who works at running his patterns exactly. He works on getting off coverage and getting himself in position to make plays. What he lacks in speed he makes up for in execution.”
This season, Feaster’s personal goal is to earn first team All-PAC honors and make a name for himself. For the team, he knows Methacton has a target on its back after last year’s success and he just wants the team to fight hard every game.
As for after high school, Feaster is keeping his options open. He has gotten some interest from Division III schools and wants to study something in the business field.
“I would like to play football in college,” Feaster said. “It’s just whether I get that opportunity or not.”
Given the type of player that Feaster is, it should only be a matter of time before that opportunity presents itself.
