P L A Y E R B I O S
I
t's hard to imagine that there was a
point in Ryan Bates' life when he
wanted nothing to do with football.
Blessed with both size and athleticism,
he's everything you would want in an of-
fensive lineman, and he grew up with
the sport, playing youth ball in elemen-
tary school.
But not so long ago, he had little inter-
est in continuing his career.
"I played football in ;=h and sixth
grades, but come my seventh-grade
year, I didn't want to play anymore. I
was just lazy, a chub ball," Bates said.
"My dad, he loves football and he always
knew I had potential, so he actually of-
fered me $400 to keep playing in sev-
enth grade, but I said no."
Bates sat out for two years
while in middle school, but
with his high school years
approaching, he began to
reconsider. During a visit to
Archbishop Wood High
School – he attended Wood
over his local public school,
Central Bucks South –
Bates received a bit of peer
pressure from guys already on the
team.
"I'll never forget it. I was on a tour of
Archbishop Wood and one of the seniors
basically told me that I had to play,"
Bates recalled. "He saw my size and ba-
sically made me talk to the football
coach the next day."
In the years leading up to Bates' ar-
rival, the Vikings were developing into
one of Pennsylvania's top Class AAA
teams. They went 33-7 from 2008-10
and reached the PIAA championship
game in 2010.
In 2011, the Vikings turned the corner,
winning the state title with a 52-0 romp
over Bishop McDevitt. It was the start of
a dazzling run that has helped the pro-
gram gain recognition as one of the best
in the mid-Atlantic region.
"The past four years have been amaz-
ing," Bates said. "We've been able to
make it to the state championship
every year. That's something I'll never
forget. We won three of them and I
started for two of those [wins]. That's
pretty cool.
"Coach [Steve] Devlin and my o
