Expand<\/a><\/p>\nIn early August, Will McPartland sat quietly with a confident stare in his eyes at the Lackawanna Football Conference Media Day.<\/p>\n
Speculation swirled all summer about when and even if Scranton Prep\u2019s talented athlete would return to the football field after having ACL surgery in the early part of 2025. He never had a doubt and emphatically said as much.<\/p>\n
When the season kicked off, however, and the Cavaliers embarked on a challenging nonconference schedule, McPartland did not play. He stayed on his recovery protocol schedule. Scranton Prep lost its first three games of the season.<\/p>\n
The time came.<\/p>\n
In a Week 4 showdown with Delaware Valley, McPartland took the field for the first time. The beginning was not promising. The Cavaliers fell behind, 31-7, early in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Then, it happened. McPartland took command of the game. He ran for 180 yards and five touchdowns. He completed 14 of 21 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns. Scranton Prep rallied to a 49-44 win, and its star player sent a loud message to District 2 that he was back and better than ever.<\/p>\n
That performance was just the beginning of a memorable final football season and a precursor to a dominant spring in lacrosse, a sport he will continue to play at the NCAA Division I level at Fairfield.<\/p>\n
His efforts, leadership and relentless drive to win championships earned McPartland the 2025-26 Times-Tribune Male Athlete of the Year award.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he is one of the best football players we have ever had, and we have had some really good kids,\u201d Scranton Prep coach Terry Gallagher said. \u201cHe is ultra-competitive. He always wanted to give his all for his teammates. Was I surprised that he came back against DV and had seven touchdowns? No. He was an extraordinary football player for us. He is that good a kid and that good of an athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming into his senior year, McPartland already built a reputation as a winner. As far back as junior football at Lakeland, the dual-threat quarterback dominated, and his teams took home titles.<\/p>\n
As a sophomore, McPartland had an immediate impact at Scranton Prep in both sports. He was a standout defensive player and contributed 225 yards and six touchdowns as the Cavaliers won the District 2 Class 3A championship. In lacrosse, he scored 36 goals and 19 assists in the program\u2019s first District 2 Class 2A title-winning season.<\/p>\n
In the fall of 2024, McPartland emerged as a playmaker and remained a force on defense. He ran for 1,030 yards and 17 touchdowns and earned All-Region honors after recording 110 tackles, nine passes defended, two interceptions and two forced fumbles.<\/p>\n
Scranton Prep won another District 2 Class 3A championship. In the PIAA playoffs, McPartland suffered a knee injury. He finished the game, a 34-0 loss to Northwestern Lehigh, but he could not avoid reconstructive surgery to repair a torn ACL. That procedure cost him his junior lacrosse season and impacted his status the following sports year.<\/p>\n
After his unforgettable game against Delaware Valley, McPartland gained momentum in 2025. He powered the Cavaliers to the District 2 Class 3A playoffs, where they defended their title with impressive wins over Wyoming Area and previously undefeated Berwick by a combined score of 84-7. Scranton Prep won its PIAA first-round game before losing to Northwestern Lehigh, 42-14.<\/p>\n
As a runner and passer and a physical defensive player, McPartland finished with 984 yards rushing and 28 touchdowns, completed 91 of 149 passes for 1,603 yards and 12 touchdowns and was the LFC Division I Coaches\u2019 Offensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania Sports Writers named McPartland to the Class 3A all-state team. He finished with 2,239 yards rushing and 51 touchdowns, and 1,758 yards passing and 14 touchdowns in his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is an exceptional kid,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cHe is a super intelligent, selfless and humble kid. He is a guy who leads by example and is one of the best kids to ever play at the school. He has a desire to be the best, whether it be in lacrosse, football or in the classroom. He has a unique characteristic: to be the best version of himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give a ton of credit to his family, and we were lucky to have him as a student and as an athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his accomplishments in football were impressive, his true love is lacrosse. He committed to Fairfield during his junior year while rehabilitating his injury.<\/p>\n
His redemption tour reached the spring, and McPartland played with passion and intensity. He had 57 goals and 20 assists in leading the Cavaliers to a second District 2 Class 2A championship.<\/p>\n
McPartland scored a season-high six goals in a nonleague win over Bethlehem Freedom and had five in the District 2 title win over Abington Heights.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was great,\u201d Scranton Prep coach Keith Toolan said. \u201cJust how he interacted with the young kids and pulled them aside and taught them techniques was incredible. I haven\u2019t seen a leader like him on the lacrosse field. After our loss in the state tournament, he asked the coaches to leave the locker room and wanted to talk to the seniors and underclassmen about legacy. To have him do that at that time shows a lot about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his career, McPartland had 111 goals and 49 assists. His contributions were not limited to offense, as he also stood out defensively for the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the beginning, we thought, wow, he could be such a dynamic offensive player, and then we saw how well he played defense,\u201d Toolan said. \u201cWe have had guys who can score, but he was a true two-way middie. We put him on the opponent\u2019s best offensive player, and he was so athletic that he would stop him. Then, offensively, he could go to his left or his right.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring his sophomore year, we won the district championship. He missed his junior year. This season, with him back, we rolled, especially in nonleague games against quality competition. He was that good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Male Athletes of the Year<\/p>\n
2003: Jim Ross, Dunmore<\/p>\n
2004: Joe Tuzze, Lakeland<\/p>\n
2005: Joe Tuzze, Lakeland<\/p>\n
2006: Sean Madden, Bishop O\u2019Hara<\/p>\n
2007: Jim DeStefano, Old Forge<\/p>\n
2008: Matt McGloin, West Scranton<\/p>\n
2009: Evan Craig, Abington Heights<\/p>\n
2010: Evan Craig, Abington Heights<\/p>\n
2011: Mike Bedell, Elk Lake<\/p>\n
2012: Joe McCarthy, Scranton<\/p>\n
2013: Rico Galassi, Holy Cross<\/p>\n
2014: JC Show, Abington Heights<\/p>\n
2015: Jake McCarthy, Scranton<\/p>\n
2016: Matt Kravitz, North Pocono<\/p>\n
2017: Ryan Atcavage, Western Wayne<\/p>\n
2018: Jackson Danzig, Abington Heights<\/p>\n
2019: Leo O\u2019Boyle, Scranton Prep<\/p>\n
2020: Jason Henderson, Delaware Valley<\/p>\n
2021: Brandon Reed, Riverside<\/p>\n
2022: London Montgomery, Scranton Prep<\/p>\n
2023: Colin Kravitz, North Pocono<\/p>\n
2024: Connor Cranage, Blue Ridge<\/p>\n
2025: Jakob Lesher, Mid Valley<\/p>\n
2026: Will McPartland, Scranton Prep<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scranton Prep\u2019s Will McPartland finds an open reciever during the game against Delaware Valley at Dunmore Veterans Memorial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[7804,305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-228312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-athlete-of-the-week","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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