BearSportsNews Sunday Edition 09/21/2025

goldenstateservicesj
Sep 21, 2025
6 min read

BEAR SPORTS NEWS

SUNDAY EDITION

SEPTEMBER 21, 2025

INSIDE THE WHITE ROCKS

CROSS-COUNTRY– Coach DiChiara’s runners entered the Skip Grant invitational (retired StA coach)and 4 Bears finished consecutively- MARCUS WAZIRI, GABRIEL BRISSETTE, ELLIS JONES and ANDREW GILLESPIE—20:01.00 TO 20.13.14
FOOTBALL– Coach Padalino’s squad registered its first lost to undefeated Maret 35-26.The Frogs had a strong roster and were well-coached.
SOCCERCoach Reed lost in Philadelphia to St. Joseph’s Prep 2-0 and the DC International game was cancelled. This week IAC matches begin.
Volleyball-Coach Sivaslian’s squad beat Georgetown Prep—always good to conquer the little Hoyas

Water Polo— was at the Battle of the Beltway, but no results found.

Bear Trax

Cross-Country

Sam Cohen, 2024, Tulane University no meet this week
- Asim Hakim-Florian, 2023 , Colgate University, ran26:39.5 in the 2025 University Of Rochester Yellowjacket Invitational

Football

2021

Eric Ford, #40 LB, USMA West Point (1-2) started as OLB in loss to North Texas State he started and was tied for 1^st in D statistics with 5 solo’s and 2 assists.
Chantz Harley,#6 CB, James Madison University (2-1)

Gets some PR—

Harley’s leaps of faith brought him to JMU

The path to college athletics wasn’t always through football for Chantz Harley.

As the Maryland native grew up, he was involved in the sport at a young age because his brother played and his dad was a coach. Like so many other kids, though, Harley didn’t exclusively play football.

He grew up on the basketball courts and lacrosse fields, and it wasn’t until he received his first football offer in high school that he realized he could play at the next level.

“Before that, I never really thought about it,” Harley said. “I played basketball basically my whole life. I picked up lacrosse a little bit later, but I I had two offers in lacrosse before I ever got a football offer.”

While the 6-foot-1, 188-pound defensive back had football offers coming out of high school, it wasn’t the easiest path coming out of high school. Harley never had a senior season with COVID-19 taking it from the realm of possibility.

His senior season was the second year of his high school career that he missed. Harley didn’t get a chance to play as a freshman because of an injury, and as a sophomore, he was a member of his school’s junior varsity team.

Harley did take some varsity snaps as a sophomore, but most came once he reached junior year. The uptick in varsity action brought college offers to Harley, but there was still a period he thought he’d go on to play lacrosse.

When Harley arrived at Villanova ahead of the 2021 season, there was a learning curve. He’d been an offensive player in high school, and Villanova was his lone defensive offer. Harley said when he got to campus, he was small and the game was faster than what he experienced in the past.

In high school, Harley said it wasn’t necessarily difficult to stand out. Players who were going the Division-I route could “cruise” through practice and still look like they were giving everything they had.

That wasn’t the case for college football.

“You get to college, it’s like everything’s on camera,” Harley said. “Everybody is talented, of course. Everybody wants to do well. Everybody wants it.”

Harley redshirted during his lone season at Villanova. After the 2021 season came to an end, the defensive back took a “leap of faith” and entered the transfer portal for the first time.

He wanted to be a bit closer to home, and Harley had a feeling that Maryland was in need of some cornerbacks. The Terrapins weren’t the only program Harley was looking at, but Maryland was his No. 1 option.

While Harley was open to other schools, once the Maryland offer came, it wasn’t really a difficult decision for the Upper Marlboro, Md., native.

“I was willing to go to most schools around the area,” Harley said. “They had offered me, and I didn’t really think about anywhere else because my main goal was to come home.”

The cornerback spent three seasons with the Terrapins, seeing increased playing time as each year passed. Harley appeared in five games in 2022 before playing in 10 games in both 2023 and 2024.

Harley posted a career-high 12 solo tackles this past season and had a pass defended. While there was an uptick in productivity, Harley saw growth outside of his game, too.

He became a more experienced football player, but he also grew in his faith and as a person.

“I got closer to God,” Harley said. “I grew as a brother and son, so I’m so grateful and appreciative of my time at Maryland. God just makes zero mistakes, because without that, I might not even stuck through with football. I might have been in the wrong place for me.”

After three seasons with Maryland, Harley once again took a leap of faith. He was nervous about entering the transfer portal again, but the decision came that he was going to.

Harley said he relied heavily on his family and faith when deciding if he was going to enter the transfer portal again. Electing to enter the portal brought new experiences for Harley. After taking just one unofficial visit to Georgetown coming out of high school, Harley finally had the chance to go on official visits.

The opportunity to go on official visits wasn’t lost on Harley. When he came to Harrisonburg, he even took one of his best friends with him for the journey.

Harley’s visit to James Madison came after he built a relationship with cornerbacks coach Eddie Whitley Jr. The pair spent time talking on the phone, and Harley said he noticed just how genuine Whitley was.

“I expected a lot,” Harley said of JMU. “We played JMU my freshman year. You always hear about JMU. I expected a lot, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. When I got there, I was like, It felt like home. It felt like family.”

Harley also liked the defense at JMU. It was hard to ignore the takeaways, Harley even said that there’s nothing better than an interception as a cornerback. He added that the defense’s success helped draw him in.

The rising redshirt senior has an edge to him — he almost has to have it to succeed on the defensive side of the ball. Harley said it was a conversation with his college teammate Dante Trader Jr. that gave him some perspective on playing defense.

He could be an average-sized wide receiver and be decent, or he could be a bigger cornerback who makes a difference.

“It’s just a different chip you have to have playing defense,” Harley said. “As a defensive back, you slip at one time, and that could be a touchdown. Your mistakes on defense are instant, as in if I drop a pass, the drive could continue and we still could score. But if I slip and the ball is caught on me for an 80-yard pass?”

Harley has already signed with JMU, and he said he’s ready to join the team and help continue to build the culture.

2022

Carter Phillips, #43 CB, Georgetown University (2-2)

2023

Taylor Best, #38 DB, University of Maryland (4-0)
Ethan Ming, #2 DB, Carnegie Mellon University (2-1) #17 started in a win 17-9 over Berry 1 solo 3 assists,
Nate Rosner, #53 LB, Williams College(2-0) beat Colby with the former Bear recording a solo tackle
Chris Wells, #49 DB, University of Maryland (4-0)

2024

Zach Cameron, #33 S, Marist College (2-1)

2025

~~Henry Kruuse~~~~, Southwestern University~~ NOT LISTED
Tiller Smith, #53 DE, Middlebury, (1-1)

Football Coach

Paul Padalino, L15, Defensive Coordinator, Dickinson College Dickinson College, 2-1
- “It was the Dickinson DEFENSE that got it done on the opening drive of the game as Valdemar Enghave stuffed Terrence Oliver for one yard on second down, before Sean Couvertierepicked off Joe Lyons three plays into the game to put DC in business on the LC48.”
Mike Rutenberg, L99,defensive pass game coordinator Atlanta Falcons 1-1

Golf

2022

Charlie Bundy, L22, redshirt junior, University Of California,

Hockey

Sam Anas, L11 Minsk Dinamo (2-1-1-1) 5 GP 3 G 4 A; #7 is tied with a Hershey Bear teammate for the lead league in scoring

Rugby

2023

Brian “the plug” White, Robert Morris University (2-1)
Ty Reyes, Lock/Prop, Penn State—The Nittany’s beat Ohio State 33-13 at Ohio State. The tush push seems to have migrated from Philly to State College.