Former Bridgeport High School standout and West Virginia Wesleyan Sophomore Safety John Merica has received First Team football honors from the Mountain East Conference for the first time in his career. 

 

Anyone who attended a Wesleyan Football game this year should be familiar with Merica, he was the #20 that covered the entire field on defense. Coming down from the safety position, Merica finished the season with 70 solo tackles. That total is good for the third most in the entire NCAA, and the second most in the Mountain East Conference.

 

The sophomore from Bridgeport collected double-digit tackles in five separate games in 2019. He started off the season strong with 16 total tackles, 10 solo, in the opening game against Urbana. Merica then showed that he could hang with the best, putting up the same tackle totals against Division I Davidson the next week. He also recovered a fumble in that contest.

 

His most impactful game of the season may have come against West Liberty on November 9, when he recovered a fumble and made two interceptions, one of which he returned for a late touchdown to take the lead. Merica was often the best defensive player on either side when the Bobcats took the field this season, and the Mountain East Conference honored him accordingly. His 2019 season was an impressive showing from a sophomore, and Bobcats fans should be excited for two more seasons of #20.

 

Here is the entire team, as well as the individual award winners.

 

Editor's Note: Photo courtesy of West Virginia Wesleyan's Web site.

 

2019 MEC Individual Awards
Offensive Player of the Year: Jaleel McLaughlin (Notre Dame) Offensive Freshman of the Year: Nick Beans (Notre Dame) Defensive Player of the Year: Dominic Cizauskas (Glenville State) Defensive Freshman of the Year: Bryce Sheppert (Notre Dame) Coach of the Year: Mike Jacobs (Notre Dame)
2019 All-MEC First Team
Pos.	Name	School	Cl.
QB	Austin Hensley	W.Va. State	Sr.
RB	Tyreik McAllister	Charleston	Jr.
RB	Jaleel McLaughlin	Notre Dame	So.
RB	Tyree Randolph	Fairmont State	So.
WR	Javon Hayes	Fairmont State	Jr.
WR	Marvelle Ross	Notre Dame	Sr.
WR	Isaiah Scott	W.Va. State	Sr.
WR	Michael Strachan	Charleston	Jr.
TE	Zaire Mitchell	Notre Dame	So.
FB/HB	Dante Jones	W.Va. State	Jr.
OL	Jimmy Burchett	Notre Dame	Jr.
OL	Brandon Nicholson	Notre Dame	Jr.
OL	Mike Mollohan	Urbana	Sr.
OL	Wade Olsen	Frostburg State	Sr.
OL	Austin Ringel	Charleston	Sr.
OL	Chandler Zavala	Fairmont State	Jr.
==
DL	D.J. Adediwura	Fairmont State	Jr.
DL	Kenny Randall	Charleston	Jr.
DL	Zach Strand	Frostburg State	Jr.
DL	Mikal Toliver	Urbana	Sr.
DL	Sha'haun Williams	Notre Dame	Sr.
LB	Dominic Cizauskas	Glenville State	Sr.
LB	Dustin Crouser	W.Va. State	Jr.
LB	Duray Hall	Urbana	Jr.
LB	Guam Lee	Notre Dame	Jr.
LB	Trevon Shorts	Fairmont State	Sr.
DB	Kei Beckham	Charleston	Sr.
DB	Logan Deri	West Liberty	Sr.
DB	Delonte Hood	Glenville State	So.
DB	Davionn Johnson	Notre Dame	Jr.
DB	John Merica	W.Va. Wesleyan	So.
DB	Michael Porter	Fairmont State	Sr.
==
P	Justin Watts	Glenville State	Sr.
K	Justin Watts	Glenville State	Sr.
KR/PR	Marvelle Ross	Notre Dame	Sr.
2019 All-MEC Second Team
QB	Brant Grisel	Charleston	Sr.
RB	Khalik Hamlin	Fairmont State	Jr.
RB	Gavin Lavat	Frostburg State	Jr.
RB	Mario Pender	Glenville State	Sr.
RB	WR Sanders	Urbana	Jr.
WR	Javon Butler	Glenville State	Jr.
WR	Ryan LaFollette	Wheeling	So.
WR	Tremaine Ross	Charleston	Sr.
TE	Thomas Cole	West Liberty	So.
FB/HB	D.J. Greene	Notre Dame	Sr.
OL	Devon Bradshaw	W.Va. State	Sr.
OL	Lavon Cottemond	W.Va. State	Jr.
OL	Chris Hawkins	Urbana	Sr.
OL	Garrett Kapstein O'Brien	Fairmont State	Sr.
OL	Lonnell McGuire	Fairmont State	Sr.
OL	Elbert Munn	Charleston	Jr.
==
DL	Carl Igweh	Frostburg State	Jr.
DL	Jack Kosko	Notre Dame	So.
DL	Harry Lewis	W.Va. Wesleyan	Sr.
DL	Cody Rine	West Liberty	Sr.
DL	Aman Speed	W.Va. Wesleyan	Sr.
DL	Glenwood Williams	Fairmont State	Sr.
LB	LA Kelly	Urbana	Jr.
LB	Clay McDonald	West Liberty	Jr.
LB	Nate Moore	Notre Dame	So.
LB	Wayne Palmer	Frostburg State	Sr.
LB	Kenjae Rose	Charleston	Jr.
DB	Kyle Alexander	W.Va. State	Sr.
DB	Mike Bell	Frostburg State	Sr.
DB	Imani Moore	Concord	Jr.
DB	Vincent Persichetti	Frostburg State	Sr,
DB	Chris Richardson	Urbana	Sr.
==
P	Dominic Buttazzoni	Notre Dame	Fr.
K	Tanner Harding	Notre Dame	Jr.
KR/PR	Austin Ratliff	Glenville State	Jr.
2019 All-MEC Honorable Mention
QB: Takwan Crews-Naylor (Fairmont State) RB: Dylan Lucas (W.Va. State), Isaiah Young (Urbana) FB/HB: Ridge Durbin (West Liberty) WR: AJ Barrette (W.Va. State) OL: Zach Cox (Fairmont State), Ethan Fergason (Glenville State), Mike Kyle (Notre Dame), Trey Milam (W.Va. Wesleyan), Jason Money (Frostburg State), Adam Riegler (Notre Dame), Nathan Toney (Concord) DL: Derrick Brumfield (Notre Dame), Ryan Gattrell (Concord), Keenan Johnson (W.Va. State) Brandon Munoz (WU) LB: Wil Mayes (Glenville State), Dwain Porterfield (Concord), James Reese (Wheeling), Grant Safford (W.Va. Wesleyan) DB: Tevon Littleton (W.Va. State), Bryce Sheppert (Notre Dame), Sam Thomas (Glenville State) P: Martin Ahlstroem (W.Va. State) K: Martin Ahlstroem (W.Va. State) KR/PR: Tywan Pearce (Concord)