MORGANTOWN — Morgantown High School free safety Drew Boczek has accepted an offer to continue his football and academic career at St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Connecticut.
Boczek will join former University High School standout Sage Clawges, who joined the prep school program last November and enjoyed a banner season catching 48 passes for 610 yards and 12 touchdowns. Both Boczek, who will forego his last semester at MHS and report to St. Thomas on January 12, and Clawges will compete as post-graduates in the fall while earning college credits during the 2023 Football season. They will graduate from St. Thomas More this May (2023) following winter football workouts and spring football practice.
St. Thomas More has 12 games scheduled in the 2023 season including a trip to Florida to face national prep-power IMG Academy as well as playing nationally ranked St. Francis (Md) at Byrd Stadium at The University of Maryland. The Chancellors also have games scheduled against prep teams at West Point and the Naval Academy.
“I feel very blessed to receive an opportunity like this,” Boczek said. “I have had interest from several excellent academic division one schools to play football and this will give me an opportunity to put on some weight, improve my speed and fine-tune my academics while playing against some of the best competition in the country.”
St. Thomas More head Coach Ernest Anderson says he was impressed with Boczek’s athleticism when he watched him on film but more importantly his overall GPA proves he has his priorities in line as a true student-athlete.
“We watched extensive film on Drew from throughout his career and were very impressed with his athleticism on both sides of the ball,” Anderson said. “He has great feet and excellent hands and an exceptional football IQ. While we are going to look at him primarily as a free safety, we also think he could be excellent at slot receiver with his excellent hands and deceptive speed.”
Clawges, who has become a face of the St. Thomas More program has already received offers from UConn and Brown, has made visits to Penn State and Duke, and has received interest from Iowa, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Rutgers, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale and Boston College.
“Sage Clawges is an excellent division one talent,” Anderson said. “He has worked very hard and earned everything that has come his way. He has really taken advantage of this opportunity both academically and athletically evidenced by the fact that he will be our captain next year.”
Clawges says he looks forward to playing again with Boczek.
“It’s going to be great playing again with Drew. We played flag football together when we were kids and played on the same travel basketball team growing up. This is going to be a great opportunity for Drew and he will be a great addition to our team.”
Boczek, who maintains a 4.0 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society, started at safety this past season for the Mohigans and earned Honorable Mention All-State honors. The 5-10, 170-pounder was credited with 90 total tackles including 49 solos, four pass breakups, four caused fumbles and three fumble recoveries though being hindered in the last four games of the season with a high ankle sprain.
In 2021, he was named Captain of the West Virginia Class A All-State football team after enjoying a standout season as a quarterback/slot back/free safety at Clay-Battelle. He was also awarded All-OVAC and All-Mason Dixon Conference honors.
“Drew is a great kid and a good football player who has done everything we have asked of him and played well,” Morgantown head coach Sean Biser said. “He has been a great addition to our program, and I am very glad he transferred in. I only wish we would have had him all four years.”
Boczek started his career at Trinity Christian School starting at quarterback as a freshman where he led the Warriors to a 2-2 start before a foot injury that sidelined him for the season. He still managed to complete 46-79 passes for 539 yards and three touchdowns.
His sophomore season was marred by COVID, but he still quarterbacked the Warriors to a 4-3 winning season completing 87-152 passes for 993 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was named first-team All OVAC, First Team All Mason Dixon Conference and honorable mention All-State.
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