On Feb. 15, 2011, Souderton seniors Nicholas Spause and Antoine Ray were recognized at a special news conference for signing letters of intent to play football at the collegiate level. Both will be playing at East Stroudsburg University.
Nicholas Spause – East Stroudsburg University (Football)
Major: Sports ManagementFinal list of colleges: East Stroudsburg, West Chester, Millersville
Reasons for choosing East Stroudsburg: “They have my major, and the coaches made me feel like I was at home. I liked the environment, and I could see myself playing there for four years.”
What was the progression that led you to playing collegiate football? “I started looking at colleges my junior year. I knew I wanted to do sports management, so I was looking for colleges that had that specifically. I was looking at Division 3 schools to begin with. I didn’t know if I was good enough to play Division 2. I started looking at Del Val and some other schools. They were all great schools, but when I started getting calls from East Stroudsburg and West Chester, I realized I had the potential to play Division 2, so I was up for the challenge.”
Coach Ed Gallagher says: “Nick really is a great success story with how he developed physically throughout his high school career. He was a lineman that moved okay but wasn’t that big and wasn’t that strong, but he really committed himself in the weight room to become a bigger, stronger and faster athlete.
“He actually came in a year ahead of schedule, in my opinion. I really thought he would be a jayvee starter as a junior and a varsity starter as a senior, but he started (varsity) as a junior for us, which is a testament to his work ethic. He really did a nice job as a junior, which then led to him starting to look at schools over the summer. I know he really liked New Haven in Connecticut. I said to his family, ‘New Haven would be nice, but if he can play at a PSAC school, it’s going to be 1) more affordable and 2) it will be closer and you’ll get to see him.'
“I hoped the PSAC’s were going to recruit him, and once a few of them started calling after the recruiting period started, I knew he was in good shape and that he would have an opportunity to play, and that was the best news on both parts.”
Antoine Ray – East Stroudsburg University (Football)
Major: Sports ManagementFinal list of colleges: East Stroudsburg, Wilkes, Delaware Valley, West Chester
Reasons for choosing East Stroudsburg: “I chose East Stroudsburg because it had my major. I felt like it was a school that had the most opportunity for me to have success.”
When did the idea of playing collegiate football become a reality? “It was probably around the end of my junior year. I started to receive letters from colleges, and I decided maybe I should see what teams were interested in me.”
Coach Ed Gallagher says: “Antoine really came on during his junior year. We had a few kids that were suspended at the beginning of the year last year, and Antoine had an opportunity to play as a junior, and we really couldn’t get him off the field. He really played hard, he really had a good motor, and he was getting after the quarterback and making a lot of big plays – to the point where he was producing a lot of highlight film type plays.
“You put that together with some of the things he did his senior year, and college coaches were very impressed with the way he got off the ball, got off the line of scrimmage and got after the quarterback. He received a lot of interest from Division 2 and 3 schools. There were a bunch of them that really liked the way he played.
“He’s a quiet kid, but he works hard. He’s really a strong kid – another weight room kid who really developed and became a much better athlete because of his work ethic and the time he spent in the weight room.”
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