The Snapple bowl has always been somewhat of a tradition at Colonia High School because they always send multiple players to it every year.
If you don’t know what the Snapple bowl is, a committee selects the best football players from each school in Middlesex county to play against Union county. Middlesex leads the series 14-9 and has won 9 of the past 11 meetings. Union won last years meeting 13-6. After finishing 5-5, the Patriots are sending three players from the team to play in the Snapple bowl: Quarterback Tyler Layton, Wide Receiver and Safety Tristan Weathers, and Offensive and Defensive Lineman Tyler Zawacki. The three players are hoping to have a big impact on the game. They all hope to play in college and hopefully beyond.
Captain Tyler Layton was selected after passing for 1261 yards, nine touchdowns, and rushing for 157 yards and four touchdowns. He had a 56% completion percentage. He finished 3rd in Colonia’s single season passing yards record. When asked about how he felt, he responded with “I was very excited and thankful to be chosen and I look forward to this opportunity. I didn’t think I was going to be chosen because that wasn’t one of my goals at the beginning of the year. The idea of being teammates with players from Woodbridge and JFK is something I’m looking forward to since we have been rivals for four years and it should be fun to be teammates for once. I hope to learn a lot of information from the practices and hope to compete with everyone and be the best quarterback their. I believe Middlesex is going to win by 2 touchdowns.”
Two year starter Tristan Weathers was selected after having 263 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns, including a kickoff touchdown. Weathers also averaged 10 yards a catch. He had a total of 548 all purpose yards. Also tallying 60 tackles and 2 interceptions. When asked about how he felt about how he felt, he responded with;
“Being the only skill chosen from our team was an honor. Being chosen was a surprise because of all the great players in Middlesex county. I’m looking forward to being teammates with kids from Woodbridge and JFK because I’m friends with a lot of them and it should be fun to play with them, not against them. I expect the practices to be hard and competitive but very fun. I expect Middlesex to win.”
Two year starter Tyler Zawacki is playing in the Snapple Bowl after becoming a all division offensive lineman. In addition he is also apart of the all area team. He was apart of two different offensive lines that led to two 1000 yard rushers in both of his years starting. Tyler was not available for any questions.
We were able to catch up with the head Coach of the Colonia football team, Coach Roarty and he told us who decides who plays in it, his favorite memory and his predictions;
“I nominate kids from our team, then reps from each school get together with Marcus Borden, who runs the event, and we vote to decide who’s gonna play. I thought a couple of our other seniors should have been apart of the game as well. My favorite memory was visiting the school that I had played for. I predict Middlesex to win while being led by my Colonia Seniors.”
