By Jeanne Sager
LIVINGSTON MANOR — January 11, 2002 - This fall was like many in the past eight years of Ryan Carlson’s life – he suited up and went out onto the field to play football.
Only this time the game was different this year, he said. Playing for Hartwick College was much faster than the years he spent on the modified, junior varsity and varsity teams at Livingston Manor.
It was more mental, he noted, but it was certainly worth it.
“The level of competition made it a learning experience,” Carlson said.
The 2001 LMCS graduate made his decision to head to Oneonta and play for the Hawks easily, he said.
Recruited by a number of schools, Carlson saw that Hartwick had a good track record.
“They had had a very good team for the past three or four years,” he explained.
And because Carlson was sure he didn’t want to give up playing football, he chose to attend Hartwick.
There, he was moved from quarterback – the position he played during much of his tenure at Livingston Manor – to tailback.
The switch wasn’t too hard, Carlson said, because he’d done a fair amount of running in high school games. And his statistics showed that he adjusted fairly well.
Carlson had 83 yards on 25 carries and finished second on the team in kickoff return yardage with 208 yards on 12 returns.
During a game against Mount Ida College, Carlson returned a kick 77 yards for a touchdown.
His performance helped the Hawks to a 7-4 record and Carlson played in all 11 games of the season.
And the freshman has been able to keep up with his studies at the school where he is pursuing as as yet undeclared major.
“There was definitely more time spent on football at Hartwick than I spent in high school,” Carlson said. “But I didn’t find it too hard to keep up with my academics; partly because we had mandatory study halls.”
Ryan is the son of Glen Carlson and Val Carlson of Livingston Manor. While attending LMCS was a three-sport athlete, playing basketball and baseball as well as football for the Wildcats.