RUSH TWP. — This story isn’t just about two talented football players, although that would be understandable.
Both made the Standard-Speaker All-Area Football Team in each of the past two seasons. As running backs, both tend to rip off chunks of yardage at a time and both make defenders pay a price for getting in their way. Meanwhile, their instincts on the other side of the ball are considered prodigious
Nor is it only about the same two young men excelling as wrestlers; yet that also would make sense.
Both have been regarded among traditionally strong District 11’s best wrestlers in their respective weight classes throughout their varsity careers to this point, one finishing runnerup at 189 pounds and the other placing third at 160 in the most recent district Class AA tournament.
It’s also not only about both having fathers who were former stud athletes themselves and later coaches. They’ve instilled the discipline, drive and determination needed for their sons to succeed at the highest level. Both boys have pointed to their dads as inspirations in their fledgling careers. Indeed, that would be another interesting angle to this story.
No, this is more than all of the above.
Even more than about coconuts (more on that later).
This is about another special bond that Marian’s Rory Dixon and Mahanoy Area’s Kyler Quick share as tight-knight buddies.
It’s about the blood, guts and sweat — even tears — they pour into both sports.
It’s about their common understanding of what it takes to achieve athletic greatness and their willingness to go out and get it.
For rival schools on the football field.
And together, as training partners in the wrestling room and during the high school wresting season — thanks to a cooperative agreement between their schools — and on the travel circuit in that sport.
As teammates.
For all but football season.
It’s this time of year when Dixon can showcase his immense talents as a running back and defensive back at Marian and Quick gets to display his own two-way skills as Mahanoy Area’s top offensive threat as a running back and a tackling machine from his linebacker position.
It’s when they can transfer the energy and motivation they glean from one another to the gridiron.
“I’d say we became pretty good friends over the months,” Quick said. “We push each other at wrestling practices which helped us both become better wrestlers and football players. …Throughout the summer we’ve traveled to wrestling tournaments in different states, which allowed us to spent more time together and become better wrestlers.”
Added Dixon: “It’s fun going against (Kyler). He’s a great athlete, and when we play (football) and wrestle, we both try to outdo each other in a friendly competition.”
‘Grand’ beginning
Dixon rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first two varsity seasons, even though he did not become the full-time starter at tailback midway through his freshman year. Now a junior, he started his 2025 campaign with 226 yards and four touchdowns on the ground and contributed two receptions for 54 yards and a score in a 42-24 win over Hanover Area in Week 1. With 2,460 yards and counting, he’s already moved to No. 6 on Marian’s all-time rushing list of names that elicits warm and fuzzy feelings from the program’s loyal fanbase.
Barring injury and with another season at least as productive toting the ball as his first two, Dixon should climb a few more spots before this season ends. By then, Mike Tracy’s program-record of 4,874 rushing yards will be within Dixon’s reach.
“To see him grow and mature has been a treat,” said Billy O’Gurek, Marian’s second-year head coach, who has coached along side Rory Dixon Sr. for at least the past seven seasons. “As a player, I think the biggest growth in his game has come in his vision. When he was a freshman, it was more ‘See hole, hit hole,’ whereas now he’s patient and let’s the play develop before picking his spot to accelerate.
“His leadership has been a great asset as well, with our team being so young. We only have five senior players on our team this season, but Rory and our seniors have been great role models to our younger players in how to conduct themselves as student-athletes.”
In Dixon, they see a goal-driven, confident athlete, but at the same time, a humble one who thinks team first and who’s often the first player to compliment his linemen or encourage a younger teammate.
“It a big goal for me to try to break the Marian rushing record and to try to be one of only a few athletes in Pennsylvania to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and place in states in wrestling in the same year,” he admitted.
Dixon has time to fulfill those goals.
“It’s easy to think Rory is a finished product given the experience he has as a returning starter, but he still has nearly two entire football seasons left,” O’Gurek said. “We want to tap into him more as a receiving threat this year, and started this past week. …He has great hands and utilizing them will help make him an even more well-rounded threat for our offense.”
Of course, Dixon will have plenty of help as he strives to improve upon that facet of his game.
“I believe my dad helped me the most out of anybody. …He taught me everything I know,” the younger Dixon said. “He showed me how to work hard, be a leader, push myself and others around me, and he taught me how to get into any mindset i need for the time being. I think, without my dad, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.
“My dad taught me countless lessons,” he continued. “One of the best lessons he ever taught me is to leave all of my troubles, worries or fears off the field or the mat because they will still be there when the game or match is over. By leaving any troubles, worries or fears off the field, I play so much better.
‘Quick’ learner?
Quick followed his own father, Sam, and older brothers into the Mahanoy Area football program. He dad previously served as the Golden Bears head coach and a longtime assistant. By the time Kyler got to high school, he was fire-hardened and ready to contribute.
Only trouble was the player in front of him during his first two varsity seasons got the ball more than he did, and for good reason. Colm McGroarty was an All-State quarterback who often made things happen with the ball in his hands. Levi Terry, another skilled ball carrier, needed his touches, but so did Kyler. When he finally got his chance to carry the ball more last year, he delivered in a big way.
He accumulated 1,085 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground as a junior last season. Defensively, he tracked down opposing ball carriers with reckless abandon to the tune of nearly 80 tackles, including seven in a homecoming-spoiling 26-7 upset of Dixon and Marian in Week 5.
“The thing I’ve learned the most is that while we must compete against each other on the field, at the end of the day we’re just making each other better and still must respect each other,” Quick said.
“For about a month after it (that game) happened, he would always bring it up,” Dixon said. “But he hasn’t brought it up that much since then.”
That’s because Quick and Dixon knew they’d soon be butting heads again — this time one on one in the wrestling room.
In the meantime, they were always a text or phone call away from one another — another day closer to their weekly workout together and eventually more frequent in-season wrestling practices. That gave them more chances to bust each other’s chops as teenage boys are wont to do.
“He helps me with strength and I help him with speed,” Dixon said. “His defense in wrestling is incredible, and I’m an offensive Wrestler so we really help each other out with that too. And when it comes to football, we help each other out by firing each other up, saying how Marian gonna be Mahanoy and then him telling me that Mahanoy is gonna beat Marian.”
Tight bond
So, that’s what this story is about.
Friendship.
Laughter.
Pain.
Disappointment.
Helping each other to get better.
Relishing in one another’s success.
Picking the other up when he’s down.
In two sports.
At rival schools.
“This whole summer I had a wrestling practice in the morning and football practice at night,” Dixon said. “Sometimes I would practice three times or four times a day. While in the football season, I still wrestle over the weekend to stay in some kind of wrestling shape and I keep up with some football workouts during wrestling season.
“I think football and wrestling can go hand in hand. I believe wrestling gives me my endurance. …Football and football gives me power and determination in wrestling.
“Strength always helps, but if you don’t have determination to win, no matter how strong you are, you can’t beat somebody who is determined to win,” he added. “I think mindset means so much more than speed and strength. I’m not the biggest guy on the field or the strongest wrestler at 160 pounds, but my determination helps in both sports.”
Something Quick knows all too well.
“I make sure to use my time wisely and also keep up with my school work.” Quick said. “During workouts I make sure I train in a way that will help me succeed in both sports.
“The strength that comes from football helps me with wrestling, and the mental discipline and conditioning that comes with wrestling carries over to football. …My strength gives me an advantage in both sports, but my will to win pushes me when things gets tough which gives me a big advantage when competing “
This then was about two supremely talented, confident young athletes committed to greatness, helping a friend achieve it by his own example.
Oh, the coconuts
This article wouldn’t be complete without including the boys’ “coconut story.”
“When (we were) wrestling in an AAU tournament in Fort Lauderdale (Fla.), Rory and his father went to Key West and came back with coconuts. …The next morning they left the (coconuts) outside our hotel door,” Quick recalled.
And so …
“Kyler and I wrestled together on the same in Florida on the same team. …Kyler and his family drove there while my dad and I flew there,” was how Dixon prefaced the story. “I found some coconuts (in Key West) that I wanted to take home from Florida, but I couldn’t get them on the plane. So I gave them to Kyler and his family, and he came back with only one because his brother and he ate the other coconuts on the ride home.”
At least Quick thought enough to bring one coconut back to his friend.
He didn’t forget him.
Isn’t that the sign of a good friend?
Isn’t friendship what this story was about?