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CRESSON -- As a student-athlete and more importantly, as a person, Penn Cambria senior Garrett Harrold checks all the boxes.
Statistically, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Harrold is a three-sport standout in football, basketball and baseball who carries a 3.9 grade-point average in the classroom and has rewritten the school football record books for a quarterback during an outstanding athletic career in which he also recently became a 1,000-point career scorer in basketball.
Despite his tremendous individual accomplishments, Harrold remains humble and is the ultimate team player, always quick to deflect credit for anything that he achieves to his coaches, family, and teammates.
On Wednesday afternoon in the Penn Cambria High School library, those teammates, coaches and friends -- along with Harrold's parents Dane and Christy and his younger brother and fellow Penn Cambria athlete Gavin -- were on hand to share the joy in watching him sign a National Letter of Intent to play Division I FCS level football at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
It's deservingly a full-ride scholarship for Harrold that takes into account both his academic and athletic achievements in high school.
Those achievements may never be surpassed in the school's football record books. The four-year starting quarterback completed 486 of 804 passes for 6,534 yards and 60 touchdowns during a fabulous high school career in which he also rushed for 2,537 total yards and 32 touchdowns on 471 carries.
This past season, Harrold led the Panthers to a 9-2 record and a second straight berth in the District 6 Class 3A championship game by completing 141 of 206 passes for 2,109 yards and 30 touchdowns, while rushing for 721 yards on 103 carries and 10 scores.
Duquesne will be getting a top-notch recruit at the quarterback position as the Dukes, who compete with Saint Francis University in the Northeast Conference, tackle a top-notch 2023 schedule that opens with road games against established NCAA Division I FBS programs West Virginia and Coastal Carolina.
"It seemed like the right fit for me,'' Harrold said of Duquesne. "During my campus visit, the coaches seemed really good, the other players seemed really friendly, and the environment seemed like the best fit for me to decide to go for it and spend my next four years there.''
Harrold, who said that he is currently undecided on a college major, plans to compete full-throttle right away for the starting quarterback position that will be wide open next season at Duquesne.
"I will definitely need to get familiar with Duquesne's offensive system and how they run things there, but I'll be going there with the definite mindset of competing for the starting quarterback job,'' Harrold said. "Ever since I was little, my goal has been to play college football, and it feels awesome to achieve it.
"But having family, friends, coaches and teammates who helped me to achieve what I set out to do has made it easier for me,'' Harrold said. "I couldn't have done anything that I've done without them.''
Harrold was a physical player on both sides of the ball in high school who also started on defense in the secondary and at linebacker.
Harrold was one of the biggest factors in Penn Cambria's ability to turn its football fortunes around in recent years, according to Panthers coach Nick Felus.
"The impact that he left on this football program with his ability and work ethic during his four years here has been remarkable,'' Felus said. "He has been an integral part of turning the Penn Cambria football program completely around.
"He has been the ultimate team player,'' Felus added. "It's always been the team first with him. It's never been about him as far as he is concerned. But today, it really is.''
Along with Duquesne, Harrold was heavily recruited by Division I FCS programs Albany and Saint Francis University, along with several other smaller collegiate programs.
"We're excited to see him going to an FCS program like Duquesne, and he's just getting started,'' Felus said. "The opportunity to play college football and earn a Division I scholarship has always been one of his goals, and we're excited to see him live out that goal.''
Harrold's father Dane -- who is the principal at Penn Cambria Middle School -- served as one of Garrett's first football coaches in a first-grade flag football league in Ashville.
Dane Harrold is more proud, however, of the personal intangibles that his Garrett exhibits than anything that he has accomplished on an athletic field or court.
"As talented athletically as he is, I'm more proud that he's such a great leader, team player, and great role model for the younger kids in our community,'' Dane Harrold said. "He's so humble. You see the young kids from the community running up to him after the games, and he always makes time for them. That's just the type of person that he is.''
Penn Cambria varsity boys basketball coach Jim Ronan is one of Dane Harrold's closest friends, and a next-door neighbor of the Harrold family.
Ronan has observed Garrett Harrold's personal and athletic development first-hand, and watched Garrett score his 1,000th career point this past Monday in a game against Forest Hills, after grabbing his 500th career rebound in a game against Bedford last week.
"He's meant everything to our basketball program,'' Ronan said. "He's been such a versatile player, and he's a once-in-a-lifetime player. He's also been such a great teammate to the other players on his teams.
"With him growing up 30 feet across the road from where I live, he's literally been like a second son to me,'' Ronan added. "His dad and I are best friends, and to see his parents be able to enjoy this moment with him today is very special for me.''