Julia Karcewski
Round Table Editor
The eye catching “Syracuse Orange” sweatshirt fell neatly upon his broad shoulders, his ankle socks peaked slightly above his grey New Balance shoes, his khaki shorts pockets overflowed with snacks. His legs shook, and his hand tapped the table that he was casually leaning on. Ben Lewis only had one thing on his mind: the playoff game that would take place in 33 hours against Walkersville, Middletown’s rival. Lewis’ life has revolved around football since the sixth grade, but after this season, his football rituals and norms will be changing; Lewis will be playing in the ACC for the Syracuse Orange on a full scholarship beginning in the fall of 2012.
Until the sixth grade, Lewis wasn’t allowed to play football; something his dad required of all “Lewis boys” because he was afraid they would get “burnt out” and be tired of the sport before hitting high school.
“I always wanted to play football, it killed me that I couldn’t,” said Lewis, “I would get yellow cards for hitting people during my soccer games in elementary school.”
Lewis’ coaches would tell him that he was a football player playing soccer.
As soon as Lewis started playing football it became apparent he was a unique player, and he immediately made an impact to the team. In sixth grade Lewis’ MVAA team won the “Superbowl”, a championship for the youth programs around Frederick County. It was evident Lewis had some skill.
High School coaches from around the county knew Lewis’ name even as an eleven year old, they knew how athletic he was, and ultimately knew the impact he would have on Frederick County athletics. The MHS coaches had great plans for Lewis once he came on “their team” while Lewis was only in middle school.
The MHS coaches’ dreams seemed shattered when Lewis transferred to St. Johns Catholic Prep after eighth grade.
Lewis said SJCP gave him “a different experience” than Middletown.
When Lewis was a freshman at SJCP he began getting recruiting letters. Freshman year is fairly early to be getting letters, but because of some of the big shots on his football team, division one coaches had been coming to the SJCP football games where they also began to notice Lewis.
JR Ferguson was a senior at SJCP when Lewis was a Freshman. He now plays for LSU and was a star recruit in the class of 2009.
“I looked up to (JR),” said Lewis, “he really showed me what it took to be a division one athlete.”
Like many boys, since elementary school Lewis always loved the season he was in, claiming he would play that sport in college whether it was football, basketball, or baseball.
“Once I started getting the recruiting letters from big schools, it became obvious that I wanted to play football in college,” said Lewis.
Football was a good choice. According to the Gazette.net Lewis caught 48 passes for 911 yards with 13 touchdowns in the 2010 season alone.
Lewis was invited to a Syracuse camp in June 2011 where the coaches got a better look at him. It was from that camp that Lewis got invited to a more private Syracuse camp where he met with the coaches personally. The head coach ended up offering scholarship, and asked Lewis to verbally commit.
Lewis said Syracuse stood out among the other division one schools he was considering because of the great communications program.
“My parents have always been flexible about football and where I want to go,” says Lewis, “I really appreciate their attitude because it made the entire recruiting process a lot easier on me,”
Lewis says his biggest inspiration is his dad who played football atSouth Dakota State and has always given him advice he can trust.
