The Williamsonian Fall 2017 | Page 27

S P O R T S N E W S

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Injuries Derail Promising Football Season

After a fantastic season start that saw the football team win three of their first four games, the injury bug hit and hurt the Mechanics in a big way as they closed out the season with a 3-5 overall record, while going 1-2 in the Seaboard Conference.

A big part of their losing their final four games was the loss of defensive coordinator Chris McIver, who suffered a brain aneurism on Oct. 12. Miraculously, he was able to survive, however, he still faces a long rehab.

According to Athletic Director Dale Plummer, McIver’ s loss was a huge blow to the Mechanics.“ Chris is an incredible coach, so when he went down, you could see a dramatic drop in play. You simply cannot replace a coach like Chris, especially in mid-season. The kids and other coaches rallied and gave it their best shot. Coach Chris would have been proud of them.”

Williamson won their opener in dramatic fashion, coming from behind with 12 fourth quarter points to topple Seaboard Conference foe Jersey Coast Academy, 12-10. They followed that with a big 45-20 win over Gattaca College. After dropping a close one to Widener’ s JV team, Williamson came back to hammer George Mason, 54-36, to move to 3-1. It was from then on that the team struggled, losing McIver and then losing four straight.

The exciting thing about the team moving forward is that they started just one senior on offense and just three on defense. With a potential for 43 remaining players to play next year, the future looks very bright.

“ I’ m proud of the guys,” said fifth year head coach Dan Drake.“ They went through a lot losing Coach Chris and then having so many guys injured. I don’ t know many teams that could lose their defensive coordinator and still play as well as we did.

“ Our guys played hard and played with class and represented Williamson well. As a head coach, I could not ask for more. We have a great group of guys returning and there is no doubt in my mind that they will do whatever it takes to bring home a Seaboard Conference Championship next year.”

Cross County Has Solid Year

The cross country team capped of a very solid year by participating in the National Junior College Athletic Association national championships Nov. 4 in Holyoke, Mass. The team ran well, finishing 26th overall.

The team finished third in four races and took an impressive tenth place overall at the NJCAA Region XIX championships. All that with no seniors on the team.

Leading the way was standout junior Colton Fox. He was Williamson’ s top runner all season and one of the best runners in the area. He won the Red Apple Run at Penn State Brandywine,

Williamson sports history was made on Oct. 7, when the Mechanics football game against Stevens College of Technology was live streamed— the school’ s first live streamed athletic event.

Since then, two additional home football games and the ESSL championship soccer game against Central Penn College were live streamed.

Live streaming allows alumni and friends who cannot attend a game to watch it live on any device that can connect to the web or watch a replay at a later time.

The live streaming was made possible through the efforts of Senior Vice President Todd Zachary and Creative Director Ross Deitrich. becoming the first Williamson runner to win an invitational meet since Shawn Loper in 1998. Fox also managed to finish seventh at regionals and 26th at nationals.

“ Colton is an outstanding runner who continues to improve,” stated cross country coach Steve Hixson 7W3.“ He is a real leader for us and someone who makes the other runners better.”

With all nine runners returning, Williamson should be in great shape for an even better season next year.“ The guys know what they are capable of if they put their hearts into it,” stated Hixson.“ If they do, look out!”

Live Streaming Comes To Williamson Athletics

“ This is a huge thing for those who can’ t make it to an event. We have heard nothing but great things about the broadcasts so far,” shared longtime athletic director Dale Plummer.

There are currently plans to add additional equipment to be able to live stream home basketball and wrestling events and maybe baseball.

“ None of this would have been possible without the vision and efforts of Todd Zachary and Ross working things out. It was a lot of work on a lot of people’ s end to finally pull it off, but I think everyone would say it was worth it.”

The link to live steamed games can be found on our website at www. williamson. edu

Soccer Team Wins 3rd Straight ESSL Title

The soccer team had many ups and downs throughout their season and at times it appeared there were more downs than ups. But, in the end, the team rallied to upset Central Penn College and earn their third straight Eastern States Soccer League title.

Coming into the season, the team faced the loss of the finest pair of players in All-American Blake Dunston and three-time All-ESSL selection Jess Martinez. Despite those losses, a young Mechanic team held their own early on. Their record was 2-2 at one point and then two very winnable games were canceled. They then fell on hard times, losing six out of their next seven games before rebounding to win four of their next five before taking on Central Penn for the title. The Mechanics had lost to Central

Five Earn National Player Of The Week

Despite being one of the smallest colleges in the country fielding intercollegiate athletics, Williamson athletes are right up there at the top when it comes to national recognition. A fact that was proven this fall, as five student-athletes earned USCAA National Player of the Week honors.

Football players Darnell Wideman( twice), Tyler Beasley, and Jack Gibson, along with cross country runner Colton Fox, won USCAA Athlete of the Week for their respective sports.

“ I think it says a lot about our players and our coaches,” stated Williamson

Penn a week earlier in overtime and came into the championship game as an underdog. Someone forgot to tell Coach Curran’ s squad that, however, as Williamson took an early lead, built that lead to 3-1 late in the game, and held on for a 4-2 triumph to bring home the crown.

“ Our guys battled all year,” stated Curran.“ It took us a while to find our footing, but towards the end of the year we started to play much better as a team. The guys showed a lot of heart and determination and it all showed in the championship game.” The team played five nationally ranked teams, including the # 1 and # 4 ranked teams, and finished 6-10 overall; having three very winnable games canceled hurt their overall record. That was forgotten though with another ESSL title.

athletic director Dale Plummer.“ We might be small in stature, but we are huge in heart and determination when it comes to the athletic field of play.”

With USCAA football All-American honors still to be announced, as well as all-conference honors for football and soccer, it is safe to say more than a few additional awards will be coming.

“ We could not be more proud of the tradition of excellence our student – athletes have created for us over the years,” stated Plummer.“ What our guys have done and continue to accomplish is nothing short of amazing.”

Plummer Named To USCAA Board

Dale Plummer, longtime athletic director, was unanimously elected to a 3-year term on the board of directors of the U. S. Collegiate Athletic Association.

Plummer said,“ I’ m honored and humbled to be given the opportunity to serve the USCAA, which has been a tremendous asset for Williamson.”

The USCAA is a national organization of mostly small colleges, universities, community colleges, and junior colleges with a mission of“ providing quality athletic competition on a regional and national level.” It holds 12 national championships in seven different sports.

Williamson joined the USCAA in 2002. In 2008 and 2009, Williamson’ s basketball team won the USCAA Division II Men’ s Basketball National Championship. They also made it to the championship game in 2003 and 2010.

“ The Lord had us in mind when the USCAA was formed,” exclaimed Plummer.“ We are the only 3-year college in the country that plays collegiate athletics and we literally were caught in noman’ s land as far as scheduling goes. Not being a 4-year school, we could not join the NCAA or the NAIA and being a 3-year school, we could join the NJCAA only on the condition we not play our athletes a third year. Additionally, our guys had no national championships to play for and no opportunity to compete for All-American and Academic All- American honors.

Over 50 Williamson student-athletes have earned All-American honors, over 60 earned national All-Academic honors, and another 25 earned National Player of the Week honors.

“ When I first arrived at Williamson, we had no trophy cases in Restall and no banners in the gym. Now, thanks to the USCAA, we not only have lined our halls with trophy cases to house all the awards our guys have won, we now are having to add larger trophy cases to contain all of our awards! We also have covered one wall in the gym with banners and are working on another one.

“ I’ m so proud we earned the respect of the USCAA.”