Hard work and plenty of sacrifices pay off as EC's Nate Damron commits to play football for Bowling Green

For Elyria Catholic senior Nate Damron, the words football and sacrifice go hand in hand. Damron was willing to be a role player during his first three seasons, he made the tough choice to live apart from his parents his senior year and he even gave up a surefire touchdown last season so a teammate would have the opportunity to score. Damron's unselfish ways were rewarded when a handful of Division I college programs began giving him preferred walk-on offers, and the Panthers star committed to play for Bowling Green on Thursday night. "Both academically and athletically, I feel like Bowling Green gave me the best opportunity," Damron said. "I feel like they have a little bit more to offer academically and I'm still undecided on my major, so that helps me out a bit. I feel like I'm going to have a little bit better opportunity to play, too." Damron finished with 109 tackles, including 26.5 for a loss, and 11.5 sacks as a defensive lineman last season. His breakout performance landed him on the Division V All-Ohio first team. "He got all his recognition at defensive end, but I think people thought he was just a little thin in the hips and for one reason or another they just didn't think he translated as well at defensive end," Panthers coach Brian Fox said. The Falcons recruited Damron as a tight end, where he played the first few games for Elyria Catholic before moving to running back. "This year when he really got his opportunity at tight end, what made him so special initially was his blocking," Fox said. "His first preferred walk-on offer was from West Virginia. I sat there with the coach going through play by play showing him how good of a down blocker he is, a kick-out guy he is. "What really helped him, and it sounds stupid, when he broke his wrist and we had to move him from tight end to running back, that's when everyone started realizing, 'Wow, this kid is a freak with the ball.' He's never played running back before, and he's averaging 8 yards per carry and running like Bobby Boucher back there." The walk-on offers might have been scholarship offers had Damron been more visible during his junior season. Fox said Damron could still earn a football scholarship by the end of his freshman year. "The biggest thing that got in the way of him in previous years is Griffin Davies," Fox said. "It sounds funny, but Griffin was so good that you look past the fact that Damron's junior year he had 8½ sacks and 26 tackles for loss, which by any other measure is going to get you all-state recognition. "Griffin had one more sack and two more tackles for loss, so Griffin is first team all-state, and Damron just quietly got some all-conference recognition. So one of the biggest things in his way was the guy across from him was just as good and he got all the glory." Damron has no regrets about sidestepping the spotlight. "I didn't have a problem playing a role," he said. "I've always tried to play for my team not myself. That was how I was my junior year, I played for the seniors. My senior year I played for the rest of the team. My senior year, that was really my opportunity and I tried to make the most of it." Damron's senior season was made tougher when his parents moved to Tennessee last summer, and he decided to stay at Elyria Catholic. "That was hard," he said. "A lot of times they didn't get to see my games. They came back when they could to watch me. I've been living with my uncle all this time. I felt we had something special (at EC) and I wanted to see where it went." Damron's hard work and sacrifices led to victories, a second straight playoff appearance and ultimately the opportunity to play college football. It also led to something unexpected … a girlfriend. During a Week 9 lopsided victory over Normandy, Damron broke loose for what appeared to be an easy touchdown run, but instead ran out of bounds at the 1-yard line. On the next play, senior kicker Sadie Hutsenpiller became the first female player to score a touchdown in school history when she ran into the end zone. The two are now dating. "Yeah, that's kind of funny," Damron said. "We always try to get a lineman in the end zone, so I figured I'd go out at the 1 and try to get her in the end zone. I ended up dating her and I had no idea that was going to happen." Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter.