Weiser looks to grow upon Licata’s successes at Timon

Beginner Bulls

By Cullen Tonge

Summer 2011. Two standout athletes from their respective areas are introduced. One a quarterback who broke all the records in Buffalo, the other a tight end who went for over 1,000 yards and double-digit touchdowns on just 54 catches his senior year in Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania. The potential future of the football program at the University of Buffalo resting on their shoulders.

August 31, 2013. Opening game of their sophomore season. 100 thousand plus fans in the seats at Ohio State. The biggest game of the young bulls’ careers.

“Licata with the fake… And dumps it off to his tight end inside the 5! Touchdown! Buffalo! Mason Schreck 16 yards!”

Unfortunately for Mason Schreck, that touchdown will never be in his stat book because it wasn’t him who caught the pass. Matt Weiser, the sophomore out of Womelsdorf, PA, caught the touchdown for the first points of the 2013 season on the biggest stage from Joe Licata, or as many high school and college students knew him, “Mr. Buffalo”.

For Weiser, it was the first touchdown of his collegiate career. He would go on to catch seven more as his career at UB went on, all from his star quarterback. As their careers went on, Joe and Matt became very close friends, even off the field. Still to this day, Matt struggles to believe how Joe was capable of the athletic feats he accomplished.

“We always joke with Joe, and this is out of love, but we tell him he’s the most unathletic athlete that we’ve ever met in our life,” he joked with a smile. “When you look at Joe, he doesn’t scream athlete, but he is one of the most skilled athletes I’ve ever met in my life.”

Considering Matt went on to play with Keenan Allen and Melvin Gordon, that compliment means even more.

Starting Over

July 14, 2017. Joe Licata is named Athletic Director and Head Varsity Football Coach of Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School. The 25-year-old was stepping into a position that he had always dreamed of and couldn’t wait to get started.

I remember the first interaction I ever had with him. It was the following day, July 15, 2017. I was going into my senior year at Timon and was in the gym volunteering at the annual summer camp the school put on. He was getting a tour of the building and saw me kind of showing off while playing catch with some of the campers. He came up to me and said, “Hey, I’m Coach Licata. You play football?” I had stopped playing after my freshman year due to a dislike of the football program and had switched to soccer. I replied, “No, I play soccer.” With somewhat of an evil grin, he looked me in the eye and said, “No. You play football.” A few nights later, he held a meeting for anyone interested in football and I was front and center. I rediscovered my love for playing the game that season playing under Licata and his staff and now I am blessed enough to call them my friends.

His staff was put in a tough position. We had under 20 kids for the entire season, going up against schools with more than 40, sometimes 50. But they made it work. We lost every game that season, and even after our last game in the playoffs, I cried. My football career was done. The first person to console me was Matt Weiser. He had been on the staff since the season started and he was the one who I looked up to. “You’re a baller dude. You gave it your all. I know losing sucks, but it’s okay. You balled out this season.” I’ll never forget those words. It honestly may have been at that point that I realized that Weiser was more of a freak athlete who annihilated us on the practice field every day because we didn’t have enough for a scout team. He was one of us. The loss hurt him too. He was just better at keeping in his emotions.

Tougher Through Tragedy

February 29, 2016. Former teammate Solomon Jackson dies a week after collapsing at an offseason workout. Although Matt and Joe weren’t on the team anymore, as they had just finished up their senior season, they still were greatly impacted. The death of a teammate is something that no one, especially a college student, should have to go through.

July 13, 2019. “The Bishop Timon-St. Jude family is heartbroken over the tragic death of Paul Humphrey, who just finished his sophomore year at Timon,” the school tweeted out. The 17-year-old star receiver for Timon had been shot and killed. For so many, emotions flooded out. Everyone at the school was heartbroken, including myself. It was the first time I had to see someone younger than me in a casket. I tried to be like Weiser from the playoff game two years prior, but I just couldn’t. But that’s okay, because I didn’t have to. I have never hugged someone harder than when I hugged Coach Licata at Paul’s wake, both of us soaking each other’s shoulder in tears. Because he wore number 2 on the field, the school embraced the motto “2Gether” and used that to stay close as not only a team or a community, but a family.

“We’ve leaned on that the last couple years. The tragedy of losing Paul really struck chords here and it was tough,” Weiser said. “We leaned on each other, and we leaned on that saying, “2Gether”, and it still holds true. I think that’s done so much good for us. There’s a lot of strong ties in South Buffalo and Timon.”

New Beginnings

June 9, 2021. Matt Weiser is named the Head Varsity Football Coach at Timon. Joe was moving on to coach at their alma mater, something that we all seemed to know was coming eventually. I’m not sure if even Joe saw it coming so soon, but he already had his successor in mind.

“He let me know that he was planning on making that jump up to college at UB and that he was going to give his recommendation to the school for me to take over,” Weiser said. “He asked if that was something I’d be interested in and I said, ‘yeah of course’.”

July 20, 2021. Matt Weiser is named the Athletic Director of Timon. No man that applied for the position, including myself as a long shot, was even close to being as qualified and ready to impact the lives of so many young men like Matt. He was a student of the job under Joe and will always remember the times they spent together on the sidelines together.

“You know, it’s been a great four years with Joe,” Weiser said. “It sucks to see him go; obviously he’s a close friend of mine and we had fun coaching together but I’m very excited about being the head coach.”

Looking Forward

In just his short time as head coach, Weiser has already been conducting summer workouts as the official start of the season is just a month away. As you may remember, when Licata took over back in 2017, the football team had less than 15 players. Going into this season, Weiser is expecting at least 50 players to be on his team.

Because of COVID-19, the Tigers had to play a shortened season this past spring. Coming off a league championship in 2019, they had high hopes for the 2020 season. Unfortunately, they were beaten by St. Mary’s of Lancaster in the championship game and their dreams of going back-to-back were crushed. Looking ahead to the 2021 season, Weiser has told his guys time and time again to use that championship loss as fuel.

“Losing always sucks, especially when it’s in the championship but you know, us coaches, we always try and twist things to try and find the positives,” Weiser stated. “Looking around at our guys after we lost, you saw how much it hurt. I told them ‘Bottle that up. Remember this feeling, ‘cuz when we come back this year and we have a full season, guess what? You make it right.’”

“No one likes losing. Everyone hates losing. It sucks. It hurts. We had some guys starting to get pissed off. I said, ‘take that as motivation’. This year should be fun and exciting and hopefully we get to avenge that loss.”

One Last Pass

November 27, 2015. “Big third down here. Licata, on the play-action. Over the middle for the endzone… It is caught and it is Weiser for the touchdown!” 

That was the last game played in the blue and white of the University of Buffalo by star quarterback Joe Licata and tight end Matt Weiser back in 2015. Six years later, the quarterback hit the tight end for one final pass, but not with a football. Instead, with the keys to a blossoming football program in the streets of South Buffalo.