On Monday, June 9, 2014, Quakertown seniors Micah Ruch and Mike Stoneback were recognized at a special news conference for signing letters of intent to play football at the collegiate level. To view photos of the signing, please visit the Photo Gallery.
Cardinal Camera sponsors all SOL college signings on SuburbanOneSports.com. For additional information about purchasing a commemorative keepsake of the signing, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/forms/college-signings.
Micah Ruch – East Stroudsburg University (Football)
Major: Undecided
Final list of colleges: East Stroudsburg, Shippensburg, Kutztown, Bucknell
Reasons for choosing East Stroudsburg: “When I met the coaching staff, I really liked them. Their personalities matched mine, and the school itself is really nice.”
What was the progression that led you to playing collegiate football? “My whole life I’ve always wanted to play football as long as I can. After my junior year, I started getting interest from schools, so that’s when I got serious about trying to pick a school to go to.”
Coach George Banas said: “Coming into the year, we obviously expected a lot from Micah in a leadership role – whether it was work ethic in the offseason weight room and conditioning drills or calling the defense on a Friday night and leading the team emotionally and physically on the field, he lived up to it. He had a great supporting cast, and he knew what roles everybody played and did a fantastic job of making sure everybody got where they needed to be, creating big plays at big times when we needed them. He was just a great leader overall throughout the season. If there was a Saturday bleacher run, he was there leading the way to film work at 7:15 in the morning in my classroom.”
About Micah:
Favorite food: Lasagna
Favorite movie: Lord of the Rings
Favorite music: Country
Matt Stoneback – East Stroudsburg University (Football)
Major: Athletic Training
Final list of colleges: East Stroudsburg, King’s College, Delaware Valley
Reasons for choosing East Stroudsburg: “They’re a Division II team, and I wanted to go there. When I went there, it had a different feeling, and I liked it. The team is good, and I liked the campus a lot.”
What was the progression that led you to playing collegiate football? “At the beginning of this football season at camp, I was on the starting team. The season was going really well, and I figured I might have a chance to play. Football is my favorite sport.”
Coach George Banas said: “Matt was a big surprise. Coming into the season, you always have a couple of players that you don’t know exactly where they’re going to fit. He was always an outside linebacker/wide receiver, and he was an athletic kid who was dedicated to the program. Coming into this fall, we said, ‘Okay, let’s try and fit him in at ‘H’’ because we weren’t real set there, and he won the position and just did a fantastic job for us. At the beginning of the year, he really won three games for us because he was such a workhorse. Throughout the course of the year, he just played very unselfish football. He would go in – he knew his role, he was okay with his role as long as the team was winning or very competitive. He had great leadership qualities where the kids looked at him and said – he could have really gone south when he wasn’t getting as many reps. He’s a real good kid, a tough kid. He played through injuries. He reminds me of that farmer tough kid that Quakertown always had.”
About Matt:
Favorite food: Cheesesteaks
Favorite movie: Stepbrothers
Favorite music: Country
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