In this 2005 file photo, Matt Mazgaj shows his winning form at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association wrestling championships. P-J file photo

It’s been almost 20 years since I first saw Matt Mazgaj wreak havoc on the football field at Southwestern Central School.

Whether it was on offense — he was a fullback for varsity head coach Jay Sirianni — or on defense — he was as disruptive a first-team all-state linebacker as the Trojans’ program has ever had — Mazgaj was not someone you could take your eyes off of for very long. He seemed to be in the middle of every single play.

On the wrestling mat, he was equally as dominant, a young man who would ultimately win a state championship his senior year, completing his time on the Hunt Road campus in West Ellicott as one of the most decorated athletes in school history.

On the day of his graduation in June 2005, he was presented the Frank Hyde Memorial Scholarship, which is awarded by The Post-Journal to the outstanding student-athlete in the newspaper’s circulation area. Hyde, the sports editor from 1945 to 1979, would have loved Mazgaj, not only for the latter’s athletic accomplishments on the gridiron and on the mat, but also for how he attacked his school work.

Keeping the figurative plates spinning never fazed him, and it still hasn’t.

In this 2004 file photo, Southwestern fullback Matt Mazgaj runs away from defenders during a high school football playoff game at the home of the Buffalo Bills. P-J file photo

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The Pittsburgh-based law firm of Marcus & Shapira describes itself on its website this way:

“Our practice concentrates on business litigation and disputes, antitrust and competition law, and labor and employment law. We also feature some of Pennsylvania’s most accomplished lawyers in real estate law, personal injury law, tax law, and more. Our approach appeals to clients who want to streamline disputes, eliminate unnecessary distractions, and focus on achieving their goals.”

A partner in that firm is Mazgaj, who joined Marcus & Shapira in May 2019. His professional biography — gleaned once again from the firm’s website — reads as follows:

“Matt Mazgaj brings a mix of litigation and transactional experience from ‘big law’ stints in Washington, D.C. and Western New York. Prior to joining Marcus & Shapira in 2019, Matt practiced at the large international law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington, D.C., and the large regional law firm Phillips Lytle LLP in Buffalo and Jamestown, New York.

“Matt’s experience includes jury and bench trial cases involving breach of contract, fraud, insurance coverage and intellectual property cases in both state and federal court. Matt also works with individuals, companies, banks and governmental entities on a range of transactional issues from organizing and structuring financial assistance through industrial development agency transactions to residential, commercial and industrial real estate and commercial financing transactions.”

The online biography continues: “Matt participated in a pro bono rotation at the Legal Aid Society of Washington, D.C., representing clients in family law cases in the District of Columbia’s Family Court system, assisting clients in custody and child support cases.

“Matt graduated with honors from Georgetown University Law Center in 2012, where he was an editor on the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review and on the Dean’s List at the Center for Transnational Legal Studies in London, U.K. He earned a B.A. Degree in Biology with honors from Washington & Jefferson College.

“Matt is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, New York, Washington, D.C., the Western District of New York and the District Court for the District of Columbia. Upstate New York Super Lawyers recognized Matt as a Rising Star in 2017 and 2018.”

It’s been quite a professional journey for Mazgaj, one he describes as “serendipitous.”

It’s most recent twist came not quite three years ago when a colleague he’d worked a couple of trials with in the nation’s capital ended up moving back to his native Pittsburgh where he joined Marcus & Shapira.

“He called me up and said, ‘Do you want to move to Pittsburgh to join our firm?'” Mazgaj recalled recently. “I said, ‘No, but would you consider remote work?'”

A couple months later, and with his friend vouching for the quality of his legal work, Mazgaj joined the firm, but he didn’t have to uproot his wife, Mary, and their four children from their Lakewood home.

Remote work it was.

And, just like in high school, Mazgaj’s plate spinning has continued.

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An admitted “outdoorsy” type growing up, Mazgaj graduated summa cum laude from Washington & Jefferson. His original plan was to pursue a career in the environmental world, but then he pivoted and decided to go to law school. Still, the idea of putting his undergraduate degree to good use was never far away, nor was the notion of owning and operating his own farm.

“When I went to law school, my spare-time reading was biology-type stuff,” he said. “And I actually got into farm reading and sustainable agriculture stuff quite a bit. The legal field was a means to an end to bankroll a farm.”

So after returning home to work for Phillips Lytle in 2016, he and his wife Mary purchased 21 acres on Big Tree Road and began farming. Currently they have nine pigs and five doe goats.

“Ten acres are fenced in,” Mazgaj said. “It’s about one-third field and apple orchard and two-thirds woods. We put a barn right in the middle and then I rotate the goats and pigs. The pigs are in the woods for the winter and the goats are in the field.

“The goats are more of a fun hobby and are also an effort to keep natural brush control,” he said. “The pigs are for consumption, and part of the reason we moved home was to be back into the community.”

Enter more figurative plate spinning.

After waking up at about 4:45 each morning, Mazgaj gets his workout at Fitness Bunker in Lakewood before starting his farm chores.

“I check on the animals, making sure the hay is filled, especially in the winter time,” he said. “In the summertime, they’re very low maintenance, because they’re all eating grass. I can usually spend a couple hours once a week moving fences so that they’re in a new patch of pasture.

“It’s very flexible. … As soon as the kids are out the door, I plug in and start filling time (with legal work).

A vocation and an avocation.

And you want to know the best part?

There’s no commute.

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There was a time during Mazgaj’s athletic life where he would run over anyone to get the desired result. Heck, I saw him do it plenty of times on the high school gridiron. Fast-forward nearly two decades, though, and the once-ultra competitor has mellowed a bit. Mazgaj works hard, but he admits it’s “without expectations.”

“The foundation of all that is my wife Mary and our four kids,” he said. “We’re doing well and we’re in a beautiful property where we can enjoy each other. I’m glad that it works out and I’m glad I’m able to spend time with them. As long as that foundation is solid, that’s primary to me.

“The job, the accolades and things like that, it’s all for those guys. If I could provide a comfortable lifestyle for my family by just pig farming, I would do it in a heartbeat, or if I can do it through this work relationship (as a partner with Marcus & Shapira), it’s fantastic. … As long as I have the foundational element of my life solid and let the chips fall where they may, it’s a freeing approach.”

As Mazgaj manages the farm and works for the firm, Mary is in the midst of a 12-month online graduate program through Johns Hopkins University. Currently a family nurse practitioner, she is studying to obtain her accreditation as a psychiatric nurse practitioner.

But don’t expect that achievement to change the family’s address, because after seeing 18 countries and living in Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C. and London in the last dozen years, the Mazgaj’s are happy to be “home.”

“If you can find yourself in a position like we have and be tied into a big city, but have this sort of lifestyle, it’s an incredible blessing,” Mazgaj said. ” … There will be Mazgajs around (here) for the foreseeable future.”

Somewhere, Hyde, the former Post-Journal sports editor, is smiling.