By Kim J. Harmon

DANBURY – Mike Powers found the right place for him.

Three years ago, Mike, now 21, embarked on what would have been a four-year football career in the Coast Guard Academy but after a little more than a year down in New London – with one season as the second-string strong tackle, he realized it wasn’t the place for him.

So he left.

And two years later – after spending a year landscaping – he was back in college.

At Western Connecticut State University, which will begin its quest for an NCAA Division III national championship this weekend when it hosts Montclair State of New Jersey in a second-round contest in Danbury.

Funny how it works out, though. When Mike returned to school – he has a political science major, with a minor in communication – it was in the spring of 1998, after WestCONN had started its spring football practices.

“But seeing them practice,” Mike said, “got me to miss it. I was commuting, too, and I didn’t feel like a part of the school. I wanted to be a part of the school and a part of the game again.”

Mike told coach John Cervino that he wanted to play ball for the Colonials. Coach Cervino recalled Mike from his playing days at Newtown High School, but chose not to recruit him because Mike was headed to the Coast Guard.

His first year with the team, the Colonials turned in a 5-5 record in the Freedom Football Conference – which was a long distance holler from their pre-season goal of winning the conference championship. That season, as sophomore, Mike received a lot of playing time, getting at least a series every game before being pushed into a starting position in the final game-and-a-half.

“My father likes to say that Western hasn’t lost a since I began starting,” Mike joked, “and, knock on wood, that will stay true.”

Mike thought he would make an impact with the Colonials right away, in fact saying, “I thought I had a chance to start. But I had trouble learning the plays and it took time to catch up.”

He has caught up – and so have the Colonials, who finished a perfect 10-0 (the first ever perfect season in conference history) to capture their first Freedom Football Conference championship. As of last week, the Colonials were ranked eighth in the latest American Football Coaches Association Division III poll – behind Mount Union (10-0), Trinity (10-0), Lycoming (9-0), Wittenburg (10-0), Wartburg (10-0), Western Maryland (10-0) and Hanover (10-0).

This is where the Colonials expected to be, though, right there at the beginning of the year when coach Cervino jotted the goals and objectives up on the board during the first team meeting – to be 10-0 and to be FFC champs.

That simple.

“This year, with those goals, I thought we could do it,” said Mike. “When the coach said, ‘ We could do this,’ everyone in the room believed him.”

And they did do it – with coach Cervino earning Coach of the Year honors, quarterback Matt LeFever earning Offensive Player of the Year honors, and nine players all told making first-team All-Conference.

But it was more than talent that got the Colonials to 10-0 with a first-round bye in the NCAA Division III tournament.

“We talk a lot about that and everyone has their theories,” said Mike, “but I think it has a lot to do with chemistry. (Brent) Bardellini coming here helped and LeFever is a great quarterback. And we all went to summer camp believing we could do it.”

The Colonials were only really challenged one time all season, sneaking past Plymouth State, 12-9, on a last-second field goal. Mike still has a piece of grass from that field turning a dingy brown in his room.

The Colonials actually clinched an automatic bid into the tournament with a 35-6 win over WPI on October 30.

“But after we clinched the conference,” Mike said, “the next two games were hard. We went out flat against King’s Point, but our defense stopped them from getting too far up on us and we were able to come back. We had the same problem against Norwich.”

But in that game, Norwich made the mistake of leveling a late hit on LeFever which resulted in not only knocking LeFever out of the game, but Western getting fired up to the point that the rest of the game couldn’t even be considered a contest.

“I’d say everyone is excited to be where we are,” said Mike, “although the bye week is kind of strange. It’s strange not preparing for a Saturday game.”

With that many undefeated teams in Division III – and 8-1 Montclair State coming to town – the competition will get that much keener, but Mike said, “That’s the great part. When we go up against tough competition, we play better.”

The Colonials will have to play much better if they hope to beat Montclair State (37-34 winners over Buffalo State in first-round action last weekend) for the second time in 1999. Back on October 23, one week after crushing the Coast Guard, 65-14, the Colonials defeated Montclair, 27-13.

“They have a really good defense,” said Mike, “that’s for sure, and a lot of people say it’s tough to beat a good team twice. But it’s nice to be at home, be on your field, in front of your fans.”

So, a week before Western was to embark on a journey that will hopefully bring it a NCAA Division III championship, Mike was thinking he had made the right choice.

“I think everything happens for a reason,” he said. “To be able to get an FFC ring is nice. And I’ve met a great bunch of people and have gotten to see a side of football that I didn’t before. It’s been great.”