Mr. Football - D IV Represented by Lebanon's Cody Patch

Congratulations to Cody Patch of the Lebanon Raiders for his nomination for Mr. Football.

Can Cody Patch pull out Mr. Football?

Of course he could. Lebanon's website doesn't post player statistics, so I'm not going to get into his statistics since I don't really have them :) However, unofficially I've seen his video which references the 25 TDs and the over 1,000 yards. We know for a fact due to blowouts against Kingswood, JS, MV, that the starters (including Patch) missed a minimum of 7 quarters of football. Plus it's been reported he was nursing an injury to his shoulder against the first meeting vs. Monadnock and did not play offense at all in that game...another 4 quarters missed.

So, I do not pretend to know how Mr. Football is judged, however, if it's judged on statistics it will be a tough sell down south. The other 4 nominees come from Marquee programs in the higher divisions, they get just as much press as Cody has received this year. The difference being they are getting the press from the guys that vote on this award. Those same guys only get to hear about how great Cody Patch is...or maybe they get to watch some film or maybe see him play once.

Now, lately there have been posts talking about how without Cody, Lebanon might have been 3-6 or 2-7. In my opinion, I can tell you having seen them play a few times this year that their defense was simply too good to lose that many games. However, in an effort to keep it real. There is NO way, Lebanon goes undefeated and IF they made the playoffs they would have lost to this years Trinity team without Patch.

From an offensive standpoint in the Championship game, Cody Patch came out in the second half and put his team on his shoulders and forced his will on the Championship game. He simply refused to lose. Every time I saw this young man play the game, he was all business. He has an uncanny ability to make defenders miss and that ever elusive second gear when he sees daylight. On the defensive side of the ball, I can honestly say in the games I saw, I NEVER remember him missing a tackle. Ever.

What does strike me (and still sticks with me today) is the measure of character that this young man probably has. Lebanon, has just completed their run of 11-0 and brought home the championship (their first ever) to Lebanon...it's chaos on Lebanon's field. People are screaming, bouncing, yelling. All except one kid. Their leader, this kid #20 is off to the side. As the last second ticks down and his teammates are in absolute celebration-mode. Patch can be seen shaking the hand of a crouched over Romeo Masuku from Trinity (who was clearly distraught with his helmet off). For a good 25 seconds, hand on his shoulder, just talking to him.

I remember thinking to myself, what is the measure of kid, to show the kind of character and integrity that Lebanon's Cody Patch showed in that one moment. In the day and age of dances and trash talk and "look at me" and so on. I thought to myself...as the final second, of your last high school football game, perfect 11-0, title coming to Lebanon for the first time ever, 2,000 screaming hometown fans.......and in that second, you decide to spend the next 30, consoling a player from the other team. I don't think there's a word to describe that. Well, not one I can think of.

So, will you win the NH Heisman? I dunno. However, one thing is pretty clear, win or no, I'm willing to bet up in Lebanon, you're already Mr. Football and will be for quite some time. Oh, and  I bet I know who the first person will be to congratulate the winner on Wednesday...and if it ends up being him they'll probably have to wait a while for Cody to go get his award, because he'll be telling the other 4 how great they are first. :) I'm only somewhat kidding :)

Good luck