SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete for week of Dec. 14, 2018
Megan Weeks is one of those special players that makes a team better simply by being part of it.
It’s not so much the Central Bucks South senior’s talent – although she has plenty of that. It’s not even the way Weeks interacts with her teammates or communicates with her coaches that sets her apart, although she is beloved by teammates and coaches alike. Rather, it’s the way Weeks – without anyone asking - is more than willing to do the most menial of tasks. It’s her instinctive nature to show others just how much she cares with a quick hug or a kind word. Throw in the fact that Weeks has the ability to laugh at herself, and it’s small wonder South field hockey coach Pat Toner thinks the world of her senior captain and calls her a natural to enter the nursing profession.“I think it’s the perfect job for her. She’s that person who would be very nurturing and caring for everyone,” Toner said. “This is something that speaks to her parents and how she was raised – on Thanksgiving, I got a message from her saying how thankful she was to be a part of our team and thankful that I was her coach. She goes out of her way. There’s no need for her to do that. You know it’s coming from her heart because it’s not like she’s going to get more playing time – she’s already playing every minute of every game. It’s just that’s who she really is. She is just a loving, caring person.”
On the hockey field, the senior midfielder was a key player and contributed in every single aspect of the game from scoring goals to preventing them.“She doesn’t get all the accolades that some people do, but she deserves it,” Toner said of the four-year varsity player. “She works as hard as anyone I’ve ever had. She’s on everything – she’s on offensive corners, defensive corners, the 7v7 team, she’d have been on one-on-ones if we’d ever gotten to that. She’s very versatile and just plays in everything we do and came to everything in the offseason as well.” As the team’s defensive flyer on corners, Weeks was fearless. She has been hit by the wild swings of opponents as well as by the ball. “She’s extremely quick at getting out,” Toner said of her flyer. “That poor kid got beat up all season long, and she never missed a game. Her hamstring was bothering her all year. It never slowed her down, and she never stopped. She would get it wrapped and come back in the game. She’s just a hardworking tough kid.”
Weeks will continue her field hockey career at the collegiate level. She is considering Gwynedd Mercy, Lock Haven and Widener, and wherever she goes, she will pursue a nursing major. Weeks also excels in the classroom and earned all-state academic recognition. She is a member of South’s Athletic Leadership Council, she is involved with Athletes Helping Athletes and LINK. Although Weeks’ days of playing field hockey at South are over, it’s a safe bet she won’t be forgotten any time soon.“Besides her athletic ability and work ethic, which is phenomenal – she will be the first one at practice and stay late, and she’s the kid that works extra hard,” Toner said. “She did a lot for us on the field and off the field. She’s also the kid that – even though she’s a senior – she doesn’t think she’s any better than anyone else. She makes other kids feel comfortable. She’s just a great kid.”
To read Weeks’ complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/megan-weeks-0081900
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of Dec. 14, 2018
The moment was so enormous that Ryan Savage doesn’t even remember catching the ball that broke the streak. What he does remember, however, is the beauty of the spiral quarterback Kip Mooney tossed his way from 30 yards out. Savage also vividly remembers the raucous celebration that followed the catch, as well as the bedlam that erupted when the clock finally hit zero. Even if the catch itself was a blur, how could Savage ever forget those moments that came before and after, the hard-earned ones that wiped away almost three years of nothing but losing? He couldn’t. After 27 straight losses for the William Tennent football program, close to 20 of which Savage was a part of, the senior tight end/defensive end combo had two big hands in ending the infamous streak on Aug. 25, a 21-14 victory over Upper Moreland that also represented his first-ever varsity win in his third season with the program. It was Savage’s 30-yard touchdown grab from Mooney with 8:06 left that lit a match and burned down years of defeat. “I don’t remember catching it, but I do remember standing up and everyone was there to mob me,” Savage said. “It was an amazing feeling, but after we scored it we had to settle down because we still had a game to play. Our defense stopped them, and for the first time since I was on the team, we got to kneel down in Victory formation.”
The Panthers would only taste victory once more in 2018, but it was enough to change the narrative that Tennent was incapable of winning a football game. They scaled the mountain in large part due to senior leaders like Savage who refused to let his team stop working hard even as the defeats continued to pile up. If character building was a class in school, Savage and his mates all would have received A-pluses. First-year coach Richard Clemens told stories of a kid who never missed a weight lifting session, even the brutal 6 a.m. ones. He saw in Savage a quiet leader who worked his behind off with equal ferocity and intensity no matter how badly the team would lose the night before. “These guys, many of them had never won a football game before, and it showed them all that their hard work mattered,” Clemens said. “Ryan was one of our highest-character guys, period. There was never one occasion he wasn’t doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing. For a program to turn around, you need to have a guy like Ryan, one who does the right things every day. He’s the consummate student-athlete, teammate, football player and person. The amount of effort and class he brought to this program cannot be overstated.”
Not only was Savage an instrumental part of the Tennent varsity football program for three years, but he’s also an integral member of the Panthers’ basketball program, too. “His athleticism on the court really helps us out,” Tennent coach Robert Mulville said. “He does the right thing seemingly all the time. Just a real high-character kid who comes to work hard every single day and provides a lot of stability to our program.”
Of course, Savage is much more than just a football and basketball player. He challenges himself academically as much as he does athletically, holding a 3.6 GPA and taking advanced placement classes. “Being a student-athlete, there’s a reason student is put in front of athlete,” he said. “With my grades, I just want to open as many windows as possible and good grades will get me to wherever I want to go. I think I could bring my GPA up, but either way I’m proud of myself for working this hard. My motivation comes from my family pushing me to be the smartest, toughest, strongest kid, so I owe all of my thanks to them.”
To read Savage’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/ryan-savage-0081899
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