About a week after Southern Regional wrestler Matt Barnett’s freshman season ended, a life-changing event occurred in his family. The date was Feb. 24, 2015, and an explosion at an unoccupied house in the Cedar Run section of Stafford Township nearly ended his father’s life.

Dean Barnett, working for New Jersey Natural Gas, was one of more than a dozen individuals injured when a gas leak led to the explosion, which sent debris flying everywhere.