HOMETOWN, Pa. — He's the all-time leading scorer at Marian Catholic closing in on 1,900 career points for the Colts.
Tyler Fritz is finishing out his career in style and doing it with a flare. Marian is (18-3) this season and looking to add to that win total.
“I put in a lot of work and so did my team, and it's always been difficult the past two years. Our division has been pretty tough and we obviously didn't make it but we have been putting a lot of work in we are top in our division now,” said Tyler
Tyler's dad Damián coached for 20 years combined at four different schools Lehighton, Blue Mountain, Jim Thorpe and Tamaqua. He is an assistant at Marian now and Tyler’s grandfather Bob Fulton was well known back in the 1960's and early 1970's guiding Marian to several Anthracite league championships and into the Catholic state playoffs.
“It's been a great journey to watch Tyler early on and to continue to work hard and put in the time and develop. He definitely deserves everything that he has received and it's because of his work ethic,” said Damian.
“Well I am very proud of him obviously and I hope that it is a wonderful game and he enjoys himself because he enjoys the game and he enjoys the competition,” said Bob.
“He came in actually in 8th grade when I went to see him play. You could really tell from then that he was going to be something special. So again for the last four years his game has changed so much from a stand still shooter to pretty much an all-around scorer,” said John.
The last time these seven Marian seniors made it to the Schuylkill League playoffs they we're freshman, so with a win over Weatherly and Nativity they can once again punch their ticket to Martz Hall
“What would it mean to get down there next week? Everything! I mean we have been working for it and everybody is hyped and we all just want to go there,” added Tyler.
Marian Catholic plays at Nativity on Friday night February 7th and the Schuylkill League playoffs begin next Tuesday in Pottsville for the girl’s February 11th and then the boy’s semifinal’s the next night Wednesday February 12th with the championships taking place on Friday Februray 14th from Martz Hall in Pottsville. All games are at 6pm and 7:30pm. The girl’s championship game is the first game on Friday night February 14th from Pottsville.
Steve Lloyd reporting for Newswatch 16 sports from Schuylkill County.