Ex-Hendricken star Matt Sherry, right, who played college ball at Villanova, watches yesterday’s Draft with his father, Karl, and his sister Casey at their home in East Providence.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

EAST PROVIDENCE — The NFL Draft was moving toward the end of the sixth round when the phone finally rang in the Sherry house on Greenwood Avenue.

On the line was Sean Payton, coach of the New Orleans Saints.

“I thought that was it,” Matt Sherry said.

He thought it was the call he’d been waiting for all day — the one telling him he’d been drafted.

“But all he said was that they would love to sign me as a free agent.”

Sherry knew that would be an option. After all, he’d been contacted by at least 15 teams last week, letting him know they were interested in him.

But he was hoping to be drafted.

“Some people think it’s better not to be drafted in a later round,” he said, “because then you can pick where you want to be. But it’s not like they’re just picking numbers out of a hat. If you’re drafted, it’s because that team has seen you play, and likes you, and wants you.”

Then the phone rang again. This time, it was Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis calling. This time, it was the real deal.

“We’re going to take you,” said Lewis, moments before it was announced in New York that, with the 41st — and last — pick in the sixth round, the Bengals had selected Matt Sherry, tight end, Villanova.

It got a little hard to hear what Lewis was saying after that, what with Sherry’s parents, Karl and Kathy, and his youngest sister, Casey, shouting and jumping for joy.

Matt remained rooted on the couch, where he’d spent the previous six hours, wearing a smile as wide as a football field.

“I’ll never forget,” said his mother, “the expression on his face when he got that phone call.”

There are lots of things parents never forget.

Sherry didn’t play football until his freshman year at Bishop Hendricken, and Kathy didn’t know if it was such a good idea.

“When I went to pick him up after his first practice,” she said, “the coach was yelling at the boys: ‘You’re running like a bunch of old goats!’ I remember thinking, ‘This sport is going to be brutal.’ ”

She still doesn’t like to see him get hit. When, during an intrasquad scrimmage early in his college career, Matt caught a pass over the middle and Ray Ventrone, now playing for the Patriots “almost killed him,” as Karl said, Kathy jumped up in the stands and shouted: “You can’t do that!”

Karl was a pitcher at Boston College after starring in football, basketball and baseball at La Salle Academy, and his late grandfather, also named Karl, had pitched for Providence College. But as a kid, Matt’s favorite sports were golf, hockey and basketball.

Once he got to high school, though, and started playing football, there was no question that was the game he loved.

“He had a passion to play,” his father said.

A teammate at Hendricken of Will Blackmon, who went on to Boston College, and then to the Green Bay Packers, Sherry made All-State as a senior. There was some interest from Division I schools, but he was still growing, still lanky and wasn’t very strong, and so it came down to the Ivy League or Villanova, and he chose the Wildcats.

“Never in a million years did we ever think he’d have a chance to play pro ball,” Karl said. “We just thought he’d get a good education, and hoped he’d have a good college career.”

He did both. Red-shirted as a freshman, Sherry graduated after his third season of eligibility with a degree in finance. He then was accepted into the MBA program at Villanova, taking graduate courses in economics, accounting and statistics while also starting every game at tight end last fall.

“What was really tough,” he said, “was that those classes were from 6-to-9 at night. I’d get to the stadium at 1, have meetings at 2, practice from 3 ’til 5:30, then go to class and study after that.”

He excelled in the classroom and on the field, leading the Wildcats in receiving with 37 catches for 461 yards and 5 touchdowns. That earned him all-conference honors, and he also was named the Colonial Athletic Association’s Football Student-Athlete of the Year.

His intelligence is one of the things that impressed Lewis.

“Matt Sherry is a very good receiver who has great speed for a guy 6-foot-5,” the Bengals’ coach said. “He has the athletic skills to continue to develop as a blocker and can add another 10 to 15 pounds. He’s a very intelligent, hard-working guy.”

For the last four months, Sherry has been working out almost daily, increasing his weight from 245 pounds to 254, while at the same time decreasing his percentage of body fat from 19 percent to 11. Most important, he was timed in 4.66 seconds for the 40-yard dash.

He’d done everything he could do to prepare for yesterday.

Waking up at 5:30 a.m. to catch a 7:45 flight home from Philadelphia, he was in Rhode Island by 9. His father picked him up and they went to breakfast at Mel’s Diner.

“Sausage and cheese omelet, with home fries,” Matt said. “We got home right at 10, when the draft started. I went right to the couch and sat there for six hours.

“I’d been trying to keep my expectation level low. I knew there was a chance I’d be drafted, but I really didn’t know what to expect. The first few hours weren’t bad. I knew there was nothing I could do. But toward the end of the fifth round I started getting antsy. I wasn’t that comfortable any more on the couch.”

Then the call came from the Bengals.

“It was exciting,” he said. “It’s the payoff for a lot of hard work. But this is only the start, not the end.”

jdonalds@projo.com