Zach Groth, sports director and anchor at Gray’s WPTA in Fort Wayne, Ind., volunteered to take a tackle for a promo shoot. That was before he saw his tackler.
You have to hand it to Zach Groth, sports director and anchor for WPTA, Gray’s ABC, NBC and MyNetworkTV affiliate in Fort Wayne, Ind.
When Rob Anderson and the promo team at WPTA were shooting a promo for the station’s Friday night high school highlights show, The Score, they needed a volunteer to take a tackle in the video.
Groth put up his hand.
“That was before I knew who would be hitting me,” Groth says. “When we got there, this giant strong kid shows up just ripped muscle to muscle. This guy was huge.”
Dylan Bennett, the tackler, is a senior at Carroll High. He’s 6 feet tall and weighs 215 pounds. Groth is 5’10” and maybe 180 pounds and never played high school football.
Bennett was dressed in his football uniform: pads, helmet and all.
Groth is holding a prop camera bought for $2 at a thrift shop.
“The tricky part was maintaining my line of sight forward for the shot, making sure I didn’t tense up and make the hit any more painful than it needed to be,” Groth says.
Groth didn’t know if Bennett was going to hit him at full speed.
“But he went full enough that it certainly hurt a little bit and I hit the ground hard,” Groth says. “Thankfully I got out of there without any significant damage.”
The prop camera did suffer significant damage. Luckily, it was needed for only one take.
Anderson says Bennett was legitimately concerned for Groth’s safety before the shot.
“The player was very concerned for my wellbeing, but thankfully everything was fine,” Groth says. “We shook hands, wished him well afterwards, but yeah, I mean, he was great.”
Attempts to contact Dylan Bennett were unsuccessful.
Groth shared the clip on Twitter.
Does your sports anchor do his own stunts?
We shot our new promo for 'The Score' this afternoon at Carroll. You'll see it on @ABC21WPTA soon.
High school football kicks off next week!
(Nice hit, @iamdylanbennet1)@CarrollFB @LocalTVSPXPrbs pic.twitter.com/vNfj0hgBym
— Zach Groth (@ZachGrothTV) August 10, 2022
“The football team had fun with that and I got a nice reception,” Groth says. “I think I earned some respect from the community there.”
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