OGDEN — The Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., have offered Saint Joseph Catholic High School senior Mark Howerton a full-ride scholarship and have given him a spot on its soccer team. "Mark was our goal keeper and one of two team captains," said Saint Joseph Soccer Coach Derrick Tate. "Howerton and Ben Cilwick were the team captains. Howerton was definitely our emotional leader on the field. He has been a three-time All-state player, and will probably be an All-state player this year again. He has been talking to the Air Force soccer coach and he is definitely on the team. He works super hard and I think he will have a good chance to play. "He has a desire to win on the field and treats all his teammates with respect, and he is always energetic and charged up, and that just spreads to everybody else," said Tate. "Howerton is an incredible shot stopper. He can stop almost anything. It really takes a perfect shot to get past him. "Howerton is a great leader, he tries to encourage and mentor," said Tate. "He reads the game so well. He is just brilliant. He is student council president. The seniors on this team are brilliant. They averaged a 3.6 or 3.7 grade point average. "We went to the state quarter finals and had one of those days, and lost," said Tate. "We were actually better than the team that beat us, but choked in the quarter finals. I will be losing 10 seniors this year, but we should be okay. We have players returning. It will be hard to lose that group, there are a wonderful group. I have been with that group of seniors since they were in the fourth grade at Saint Joseph Elementary School. Our families are friends and we have even taken vacations together. I cried when the season was done because I am really going to miss that group of kids." Howerton moved to Utah when he was 3 years old from Colorado, so he has grown up in Utah. He started playing soccer when he was in the fourth grade. "I have a lot of family in Colorado," said Howerton. "My brother graduated from Saint Joseph in 2006, and just moved to Colorado. My parents actually grew up a block away from each other in Colorado. Both of my extended families are based out of Colorado. "I played soccer and basketball for Saint Joseph, but you kind of have to help out on other teams, our school is so small," said Howerton. "I mainly play soccer and basketball, but I have stepped in during track and field during region playoffs to throw shot putt. I qualified for the state playoffs, but I didn’t go." Howerton was looking for colleges when he went to a tournament in Phoenix last summer and a U.S. Naval Academy coach contacted him. "A scout wanted to talk to me about looking at their team," said Howerton. "I started looking at them and went to a camp over the summer. That is when I started looking at military academies. I started looking more at Air Force because of academics. I like the Air Force environment more and decided to contact the Air Force coach. I did not really want to go to Maryland to the Navy. I don’t like the climate and the humidity. I would much rather be at Air Force. "For some reason the two colleges I looked at strongly were both in Colorado. The other was the Colorado School of Mines," said Howerton. "I went to their camp, and I was talking to their coach for a long time. He offered me a spot to play for them. But a full-ride scholarship to Air Force was hard to pass up. Howerton has gone to the orientation at Air Force Academy and walked with a cadet getting used to everything. He said the classrooms are fun, the dorm rooms are nice, food is supplied for you, and laundry is done for you. "You are supplied with absolutely everything you need," said Howerton. "Then when I am finished with my academics, I will give them four years in the Air Force. If I am drafted as a pilot, it will be longer because you have to go through the training. I would like to get wings if I can. If I am there, why not? "The campus is average size, so it will be nice to go to a bigger campus. Our campus only has 180 students," said Howerton. "I can expand my horizons a little bit. I am looking forward to graduating. I am a lifer. I have been at Saint Joseph since kindergarten. "I have grown up with the same group of kids, and it is going to be hard to leave everyone," said Howerton. "A lot of them are going to college together. But we have a good Alumni Association, so I should be able to stay in touch." Howerton would like to major in engineering at Air Force Academy.
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