Freedom High senior Eddie Mateo was down to the final days and his mind was about made up to sign a National Letter of Intent to attend NCAA Division II Bloomsburg University.

All it took was just his signature on dotted lines during Wednesday’s Signing Day.

Mateo, an Associated Press and Morning Call All-Area first-team running back, definitely signed, but the 5-foot-10, 190-pound powerhouse committed to Stony Brook of the Football Championship Subdivision’s Big South Conference. He’s headed there on a full scholarship.

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‘’I was definitely considering Bloom’, but then [Stony Brook] gave me the full scholarship and I always wanted my mom not to pay anything, and I liked the school,'’ Mateo said. ‘’It’s a great choice.'’

The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference has a lot of powerful teams with talented players who could play at Football Championship and Football Championship Subdivision schools, but poor grades, lack of exposure, or just blooming too late often results in a star high school player ending up settling for less.

Mateo almost settled, but last weekend he traveled to Stony Brook, which is Suffolk County, N.Y., on the invitation of Seawolves coach Chuck Priore.

It ended up being the trip of a lifetime.

‘’Sunday, I went out to breakfast with Coach and he offered me right on the spot,'’ said Mateo, who rushed 258 times for 1,692 yards and 26 touchdowns last season.

Nothing beats a free college education. Mateo will pursue a degree in physical education because he wants to eventually become a gym teacher and to coach football.

‘’To have a full boat to a school like that is exciting,'’ Freedom coach Jason Roeder said. ‘’It’s well deserved.'’

Few coaches are going to say an athlete being offered a scholarship is not well-deserved, but it’s not an overstatement in Mateo’s case.

He’s succeeded on the field and in the classroom at Freedom, both coming in a senior season in which he could have had a setback after transferring from Bethlehem Catholic to the public school system.

But Mateo, who led the Lehigh Valley Conference in rushing as a junior, fit in well at Freedom and with 2,867 yards and 40 touchdowns over his junior and senior seasons, appeared to have the credentials deserving of a Football Championship scholarship.

No offers came. Mateo didn’t worry. He just decided that he was going to attend Bloomsburg.

Then came the 11th hour and a change of mind – for the better.

‘’It’s been a hard process just looking at every school and looking at every option, but I think this is going to be the best fit for me and my family,'’ Mateo said.

Roeder is just as happy about Mateo’s decision.

‘’They were in on him from the beginning,'’ Roeder said. ‘’It’s an outstanding school, unbelievable facilities. I’ve actually been there in the past and he’s a great fit there with the type of back that they were looking for, a bigger back that can go, and that’s obviously Eddie.'’

It just goes to show what student-athletes can accomplish when they strive to overcome odds, such as Mateo did.

Signing Day was filled with many other football players who went through exhaustive processes and weren’t being offered scholarships until late in the game.

Horvin Latimer, a senior linebacker at Liberty who was selected to play on Pennsylvania’s All-Star team in June’s Big 33 Football Classic in Hershey, was offered a scholarship by Duquesne within the last two weeks.

His mother, Lydia Medina, said it was one of the proudest moments of her life, but Latimer isn’t satisfied with just getting a full ride to college.

His life has been filled with obstacles that he has had to overcome, starting with the separation his parents and the pain he had to endure when his father, Horvin Sr., went to prison on an aggravated assault charge.

But Latimer, who used to get into trouble in school, became more focused on football and in the classroom and appears to have made a life-changing decision on Wednesday when he signed his National Letter of Intent.

‘’The job is not done,'’ Latimer said. ‘’This is just the first step. I want to finish college, then make [his mother] proud.'’

All across the Lehigh Valley on Wednesday, proud parents stood by their children’s side as they signed on to a better life. Making it even sweeter was having their offsprings signing up for free educations and, hopefully, a better future.

Players Making Last-Minute Decisions Wise (FCS) Ones
By Andre Williams of the Morning Call
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/all-varsitycolfeb0609,0,5767191.column