PHOTO: NORWICH ATHLETICS.
Marblehead’s Tyler Bates posted 20 tackles through four games for Norwich before suffering a season-ending injury.
By Joshua Kummins
Tyler Bates felt like he had reached the peak of his college football career this fall.
The Marblehead native was among Norwich University’s leaders on defense, posting 20 total tackles through four games. The linebacker earned Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) Defensive Player of the Week honors on Sept. 19 after a six-tackle performance with a sack and a 30-yard interception return against WPI.
Things didn’t go so well for Bates in the Cadets’ next game against Mount Ida two weeks later as he suffered a broken leg and tore ligaments in his ankle, forcing an abrupt end to his senior season.
“I definitely feel like I was at the peak of my athletic career,” said Bates, who had aspirations of earning a spot on the All-Conference Team at season’s end. “I started off (the season) with a couple of great games and felt really comfortable with our system, so it was unfortunate the injury had to happen at this time.”
Although Bates had to face the difficult reality that his final collegiate season would be cut short, being a part of the program at a prestigious institution like Norwich leaves him with positive takeaways.
At the military institution, he has learned to persevere through a difficult situation like his injury, as the timetable for recovery is about five months. But he will not get to finish playing the sport he loves with the teammates he has grown close to over his four-year career.
“You want to see all your hard work and dedication in the off-season pay off during senior year, training five or six days a week to get the level to be an elite player, so it hurts that I cannot see it all through,” Bates said. “Football is in my blood and I love to compete, and not being able to hurts. But going to a school such as Norwich it has taught me how to be resilient during difficult times.”
Bates is one of several players head coach Mark Murnyack trusted to provide leadership on defense. Thus, his loss was a key one for the team, especially as the rigors of conference play were about to begin.
“He’s been such a consistent performer for us,” said Murnyack, whose team has earned two straight wins after a 0-4 start. “He’s a tough kid and just been such a huge part of what we’ve done on that side of the ball … he was our guy in there, playing as consistent as anybody we had. The wins and losses weren’t adding up to where we wanted them to be early on, but he was a guy that was shining.”
Toughness is a trait Bates’ teammates also notice in his game. While he felt the severity of the injury immediately, a level of concern set in for his coaches and teammates when he didn’t recover from going down during the pass rush right away.
“The injury itself was extremely painful,” said Bates, who was a four-year player and two-year captain for the Magicians’ hockey team. “I knew when it happened my season was over. I have always played through injuries in my career but this was the most severe.”
“It didn’t appear to be anything season-ending, but one of his teammates said, ‘Coach, Batesy was agonizing out there,’” Murnyack recalled. “He’s a real tough kid, so they kind of guessed something was up when he was doing that. When we heard the news, we were just devastated.”
Bates returned home following the injury and received successful surgery at Mass General Hospital on Oct. 6.
Names and notes
- Lynn’s Katie Burt made 24 saves in the sixth-ranked Boston College women’s hockey team’s 4-1 win Friday night at New Hampshire, the 68th victory of her collegiate career. She also set a new career-high with her second assist of the season in a 3-2 loss to Maine the following night.
- St. Mary’s alum Kaylin Deschenes scored the first goal for the Emmanuel women’s soccer team in its come-from-behind win over University of Saint Joseph Saturday. Deschenes has three goals and three assists for the Saints in her freshman season.
- Peabody native and Bishop Fenwick alum Nick Bona recorded four of his eight tackles solo as the Stonehill College football team scored 14 fourth-quarter points in a 21-17, Saturday night win over New Haven on ESPN3’s Division II Football Showcase.
- Saugus’ Mike Vecchione registered two assists and two shots on goal in the Union College hockey team’s 5-4 win at AIC, a day before scoring his second goal of the season on five shots against Sacred Heart.
- Marblehead native and St. John’s Prep alum Owen Rockett logged two receptions for 25 yards and a touchdown for the Colgate football team in its win over Bucknell Saturday. Rockett has three touchdowns in five games for Colgate.
- Revere’s Lindsay Gurska was one of four Worcester Polytechnic Institute softball players to repeat as a National Fastpitch Coaches Association Scholar Athlete, it was announced last Monday.
- Lynn’s Jevon Brown-Simpson rushed for 32 yards for the Fitchburg football team in its win over Western Connecticut Saturday. Defensively, his brother Malcolm Brown-Simpson logged six tackles, and Classical alum Chandler Laguerre recorded three solo tackles.