Valley’s Melanson Commits To DIII Bluffton Football
AKRON — When Tippecanoe Valley senior Wes Melanson started his high school football career four years ago, there was one jersey number in particular he had his mind set on.
Melanson wanted to wear the number of one of Valley’s all-time best athletes, 2014 grad and wide receiver/ defensive back Tanner Andrews. He was hoping to prove himself worthy of the number. His career stats certainly seem to validate the choice.
“When I was a freshman I wanted No. 15 because of Tanner Andrews. I wanted to follow him and get 15 to be the best number,” Melanson recalled. “I think I did a pretty good job of doing that and leaving my mark on tackling points and outside linebacker points and leadership.”
Melanson finished his high school football career this past fall as the Vikings’ all-time sack leader with 12, was third all-time for tackles behind the line of scrimmage with 31 and seventh all-time in total tackle points with 550. As Valley’s leading tackler for three seasons, he was named a three-time MVP linebacker for the squad, collected two All-Three Rivers Conference selections, two academic all-conference picks and was a four-time Rochester Sentinel All-Sentinel football team choice. Melanson is also a recipient of the IHSAA’s prestigious Bobby Cox Sportsmanship Award.
“Wes Melanson is a great kid,” said Valley head football coach Steve Moriarty. “He did a very good job leading the team as a captain. We are going to strongly miss Wes next season. What an honor for him to be able to go on and play college ball, which is well-deserved for all his hard work and dedication. Wes shows a great example for the younger players how those sacrifices pay off. It was a privilege to coach him.”
It’s no wonder NCAA Division III Bluffton was knocking on his door. So why did Melanson choose the Beavers?
“I went on a couple visits — went to Trine, went to Manchester. They were all good schools, both recruited me,” explained Melanson. “Bluffton just felt like home to me. The coaches were really great. Great strength and conditioning program, and the program is on the uprise.”
Also a standout baseball and basketball player at Valley, the 6-foot, 210-pound Melanson decided pretty early on in his high school athletic career which sport he wanted to pursue at the next level. To hear him tell it, it was a seed that started casually enough. Now after four years of hard work on and off the field, it’s a dream finally come to fruition.
“I remember when I was a freshman and I was in the weight room in the morning, and (coach Jeff) Shriver goes ‘Yeah, you want to play college football?’ And I was like ‘Yeah,’” Melanson recalled. “So we just started working. I put in a lot of work in the weight room, a lot of work on the field. It just feels great to finally be rewarded for what you do, and it’s just going to be a great process.”
Bluffton football is a DIII program located in Bluffton, Ohio and competing in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Beavers finished with a 3-7 record in 2018, including a 3-5 record in the HCAC but have a strong recruiting class headed into 2019 and beyond. With a host of incoming talent, Melanson says he’ll have some work to do if he hopes to get playing time as a freshman, but he may get some minutes here and there.
“Maybe on some special teams, but I’ve got to come in and work,” he said. “They have a couple pretty good linebackers. We watched film on them so they should be on the uprise. They struggled the past couple years, but we’ve got a good recruiting class coming in, and we’re just going to start going up from there.”