Coming of age

January 22, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Led by junior Colin Reardon, Poland rolls past Campbell

poland

In the winter of 2002, just a few months after the Poland High boys basketball team lost to LeBron James and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in the state semifinals, a 7-year-old named Colin Reardon joined the team as a ballboy.

He stayed until seventh grade, when he joined the middle school team. A few years after that, he emerged as the Bulldogs’ starting varsity quarterback as a sophomore, and was one of the team’s best pitchers later that spring.

But while he knows his future is in one of those two sports — “I’m not 6-4, so I know I’m not going to play Division I basketball,” he said — he couldn’t shake the basketball bug. Which is why he bided his time on the Bulldogs’ second unit last winter, and why he’s become the team’s go-to threat this year.

“Colin has been awesome this year,” Poland coach Ken Grisdale said after his team’s 72-50 win over Campbell on Friday. “And the thing is, we don’t do a lot for him. He’s able to play in the flow.”

Reardon scored 24 points to go with five rebounds, two assists and two steals in just 21/2 quarters as the Bulldogs (8-2) rolled up a 50-21 lead midway through the third.

Senior guard Drew Wagner added eight points and five steals and the Bulldogs got points from 12 players.

“It was a good night for our program,” Grisdale said. “All the kids got an opportunity to play.”

Ty Underwood and Trevin Jones each scored 12 points for the Red Devils (4-7), while Lester Hughes had 11 points and nine rebounds and Richard Bledsoe had 10 points, eight rebounds and four steals.

After a solid start, Campbell is still trying to overcome the loss of a few key players, who were released from the team for disciplinary reasons.

Poland, meanwhile, is still growing after losing five senior starters from last season.

Reardon has given the Bulldogs the biggest boost. He entered the game averaging 25 points and 14 rebounds per game, doing much of it off “garbage,” Grisdale said. Translation: He attacks the basket and scores a lot off putbacks, often through offensive rebounds.

“I was always able to do that,” Reardon said with a shrug. “Last year, I didn’t get a ton of playing time but I got some experience.

Now I’m starting to play some more and I know from experience where the rebounds [from his teammates’ shots] are going to come off.”

It’s unusual to see three-sport athletes in 2011, particularly in boys sports, and it’s even more unusual to see three-sport athletes who are as good in all three as Reardon. (His teammate last season, Luke Wollet, was another notable exception.) Even more amazing is the fact that he finds time to coach fourth-grade basketball.

Reardon said his focus is on whatever sport he happens to be playing at the time, and he basically shifts from one to the other as soon as one season ends.

“The second baseball season is done, I’m working on throwing a football,” he said.

Doesn’t he get tired of it?

“No, I love it,” he said. “I’m going to do this as long as I can.”

At 6-foot-1 with a big arm, Reardon knows he’ll either play baseball or quarterback in college. But he said he’ll always find time for the other sports when he’s home.

“I don’t like being bored,” he said.