Road to the NCAA: The Legacy of J. Wilson

[jwilphl]

Week 9

The final conference game of the year is now over. We pretty much manhandled Upper Merion, but for much of the game it was evenly matched. It was really the first game where we went against our status quo. We put up a lot of points in the first quarter and then slowed as the game progressed until the 4th.

It was a strange 1st quarter, however. After driving down the field, UM got an interception and were back deep in their own zone. On the ensuing play, Rob got in the backfield and recovered a fumble in the endzone for the first score. UM scored on their next possession on a long pass play, then we immediately followed with a kick return for a TD. Then we picked off Irvin on the next possession and scored again quickly.

Upper Merion scored once more in the 2nd to make it close until the end of the 3rd when I managed to score with two back-to-back moderate running plays. That drive alone pretty much saved my day. Without it, I would have had only 56 yards total. Those two runs alone were worth more than 50% of my total yardage. Upper Merion followed suit as to what Cheltenham did by stacking the box and containing the run, but it broke down for one drive and allowed me to open my game.

Other than that, it was a quiet day for me. I caught a hail mary at the end of the first half to rack up some receiving yards.

Stats: 13 carries, 114 yards, 3 TD, 2 rec, 46 yards, 3 tackles

Just taking a rest on the field after making a tackle. Staring up at the night sky is relaxation at its best.


High-stepping away from defenders allows you to avoid the low tackles. Unfortunately he slowed me down enough to allow his teammate to get me.


I don't always get in the endzone, but when I do, I make sure to savor it.

Final: 35-14

I got some big news this week on the scholarship tour! I received my offer from West Virginia in the mail! I was pretty excited when I tore open the envelope and read the news. I'm still waiting to hear from South Carolina and Penn State, and perhaps some others, but this was more than welcome news.

I also heard from The Texas University, following in A&M's footsteps I suppose. They are interested in having me come out to Austin and tour around. Considering I've never traveled West of the Mississippi, it will be an excellent visit! I'm going to wait to plan it, though, and hit as many schools as I can in one trip. A&M and then Texas, and I think I'll hear from some more in the coming weeks.

Even though I received my offer from WVU, I'm getting more and more excited about these other schools sending me LOIs and so forth. This is going to make my college decision that much more difficult come the spring. I think at this point I have to be almost entirely committed to playing HB in the fall. Syracuse called again asking to employ my skills at MLB, but I think my passion is on offense, and it seems I just play a whole lot better there.

Nothing is certain until the season is over, but I can't wait! Garnet Valley, our next opponent, is 0-9. They are surprising a lot of pundits locally by playing so poorly. I shouldn't overlook any opponent, but at this point our playoff birth is almost guaranteed, so I keep looking ahead. Coach will focus us in practice.

For now I'll go daydream about what it would be like to play in front of 100,000 screaming fans come September and hope I get the opportunity.

[jwilphl]

Week 10

Our second to last game of the season against Garnet Valley proved to be a bit closer than I would have liked. On the first play of the game for our offense, I was able to open a 42-yard TD run. After that, the scoring would settle down.

It was an evenly spread game. We were only up 14-10 at halftime, largely thanks to a long post pass that resulted in a TD just before the half. During the second half we controlled the pace of the game, putting up 17 before they answered with another TD late. Unfortunately for GV, we knocked them to 0-10 on the year. We, however, are just the opposite, sitting at 10-0.

I put up my most tackles in a game this season with seven. It may help me get some more notice at the LB position. On offense, my fairly consistent production continued with another decent game. A third of my yards did come on one play, though.

Stats - 16 carries, 146 yards, 1 TD, 1 rec, 7 yards, 7 tackles


Getting sandwiched doesn't feel great. There's also the need to protect the ball.


Making a tackle on defense. It's clobberin' time!


Here I'm escaping just about every man GV had on defense! Look out behind you!

Here's a quick video of a short run I had, but it shows off some of my athleticism and tackle breaking/avoiding abilities.


Final: 31-16 W

Rank: 126
I finally am ranked in the ESPNU 150! That is pretty exciting and quite a honor, I must say. To be ranked in the top 150 recruits in all the country is stellar to me. I'm curious just how far I can climb if my performances continue. The regular season comes to an end soon, but the playoffs offer me more opportunities to improve. Our place in said playoffs is assured now that we have gone to 10-0 with one to play.

Pitt and Marshall offered me scholarships at MLB. I also got an interest tick from Maryland, although they had already talked with me about playing HB. It seems they would like me to play at either position, now. After the regular season ends, I'm going to decide which position I will commit to for the fall. That way I can focus specifically on my skills there during the playoffs.

I heard from another Big Ten school this week. Wisconsin called me up and inquired about my services as a RB. I also got scholarship commits from just about every school on my list, including Penn State and Texas! I was totally speechless when I got the news. I feel like I should be making a bigger deal of this, but I just can't get overly excited yet.

Come January, all I'll have to do is pick a school. Easier said than done, right? Over winter break I am going to travel with my parents and visit the schools that I can. The unfortunate part is I will simply not be able to hit them all, so my list will be cut down from where it is even now.

Our fiercest rivals will finish off our regular season schedule: the annual Thanksgiving Day game. This has been a regular tradition since 1935. Hatboro does lead the all-time series by a pretty wide margin, 49-21-5, but over the last decade or so our school has done well to close the margin.1

Hatboro-Horsham (2-8) hasn't done so well this year, but in this game it doesn't matter. Because we are rivals, you never know how the game will go. It will be intense and emotional throughout!

We are 1-2 against them since I started High school. My plan is to even the score.

[admijosco]

126 and climbing! Break into those double digits soon!

[jwilphl]

Week 11

Coach emphasized all week about how if we wanted to make noise going into the playoffs, we would need one more big blowout to demonstrate our abilities. We took that to heart against our biggest rivals and really exhibited what we could do.

We took a 24-0 lead at halftime. There were giant holes for me in the running game nearly all day. The scoring slowed in the 2nd half as Coach sat me the entire 4th quarter to keep me healthy for the playoffs. I had wanted to break 200 yards for the second time this season, but I understood his decision to sit me and it was the right one.

I think my really high YPC this season is sure to get the attention of some more scouts.

Stats - 11 carries, 190 yards, 1 TD, 3 rec, 12 yards, 3 tackles, 2 TFL


Getting tackled at the end of my long run. The video from this run is below.


On defense and getting some help to put the Hatters in their place.


Diving into the end zone to proclaim this land for the Golden Bears!

This is my big run of the day.


Final: 34-3 W

So that rounds out the regular season for us. Here is a quick rundown of how the 2011 season went:

09/02	Methacton (AAAA)	37-0	W
09/09	@ Upper Perkiomen (AAA)	31-0	W
09/16	Phoenixville (AAA)	52-0	W
09/23	BYE	--	--
09/30	@ Plymouth-Whitemarsh (AAAA)	27-17	W
10/07	@ Norristown (AAAA)	23-7	W
10/14	Wissahickon (AAAA)	41-3	W
10/21	Upper Dublin (AAAA)	27-19	W
10/28	@ Cheltenham (AAAA)	27-7	W
11/04	Upper Merion (AAA)	35-14	W
11/11	@ Garnet Valley (AAAA)	31-16	W
11/24	@ Hatboro-Horsham (AAAA)	34-3	W
Final Record		11-0

ESPNU 150 Ranking
	93

This was only the second time in school history our team accomplished a perfect regular season. The last time was way back in 1956 when my grandfather played high school ball! But they only played seven games.

Seedings haven't been determined yet for the playoffs, but I can't imagine not having a home playoff game--that too would be a second all-time event in school history. I'll fill ya'll in later on who we end up being bracketed against. I know the intensity is going to ramp up come the playoffs. The talent level we face will increase, as well.

On a more personal note, Wisconsin called to offer me a scholarship HB, while a handful of schools offered me a scholarship to play MLB! Once the playoffs are over I'll get to scheduling my visits. Realizing that I only have a limited amount of time, I might delay my decision until after spring break so that I can use that time to travel to more schools. I'll have to check on deadlines first.

There is more big news! I got my first emails from Pac-12 schools! Utah and, no joke, Stanford contacted me! Of course I had to add Stanford to the list. If you remember my decision at the beginning of the year to add South Carolina over them, I had hopes Stanford would come knocking. I guess doing well academically is paying off in that regard. Oh yeah, and my performances on the football field.

I also got a flurry of offers at MLB from some of the remaining MAC schools--Buffalo, Bowling Green, and Ohio. I'm flattered at these LOIs, but as I said last week, once the regular season ended, I would choose my position to play in college and focus on it. It probably won't come as much of a surprise. I decided I will play HB in college. It was a bit of a no-brainer.

I will continue to play LB here for the team. They definitely need me for the playoffs. However, my training will be focused on learning what I need to know to be a collegiate running back. I'm glad to have this decision off my shoulders.

I'll update shortly to let you guys know who we are playing in the first round of the AAA State Playoffs.

[jwilphl]

Well the playoff brackets have been released for the first round, starting next week.



Here is a table of the seedings going into the playoffs so you can see how these teams stack up:

Rank	Team	Record	Votes
1	Allentown Central	12-0	541
2	Archbishop Wood	11-0	310
3	Upper Moreland	11-0	278
4	Clearfield	10-0	210
5	Pottsgrove	10-1	194
6	Grove City	11-1	175
7	Strath Haven	10-2	128
8	Cardinal O'Hara	10-2	64
9	Oil City	11-1	56
10	Cheltenham	10-2	37
11	West Chester East	9-1	4
12	Montour	10-2	2
13	Simon Gratz	10-2	1
14	Beaver Falls	9-2	0
15	Interboro	9-3	0
16	Roxborough	9-3	0

Our first game is against Beaver Falls from out west. I'm not at all familiar with their team. Once Coach gets some game film I'm sure he will go over it and strategize with the team.

At 9-2 they obviously had a successful season, but with zero first place votes, I imagine they didn't have the strongest schedule this year.

The most interesting part of the brackets is Allentown Central as the overall #1 seed. They won the state title last year by plowing through all their opponents, up until the championship game when they won 28-27. Their average margin of victory had been 40+ points, even beating Wood by 30 points in the semi-finals.

Speaking of Archbishop Wood, that is who our bracket runs through this year. I imagine they got the #2 seed over us because they have had very good seasons of late. This is a big season for us, but we definitely are not used to being a high playoff seed. Regardless, they cannot be a concern right now.

Right now, we must get by Beaver Falls in Game One.

[12]

This is awesome.

Keep up the good work.

I'm following.

[pendo]

Keep going man, i am really enjoying this!