When John Snyder lined up in his three-point stance and glared into the facemask of a 300-pound offensive lineman, his mind told his body how to execute the task at hand.

Control my man. Make the tackle if the runner comes in my gap.And more often than not, he did just that.Snyder, a former lineman for Palmerton High School, was recently selected as a Centennial Conference first team all-star and an ECAC Division III South second team all-star after another stellar season playing defensive tackle for Moravian College. During his four-year career with the Greyhounds, Snyder made the Centennial Conference all-star team every year.In his final season at Moravian, the 5-10, 260-pound Snyder made 54 tackles of which 36 were solos, including nine tackles for a loss He also sacked the quarterback twice, intercepted a pass, and he even blocked two kicks. He leaves Moravian ranked fourth on the school's list for tackles for a loss in a career ( 27½), and ninth on the school list for career sacks (10).Football has been Snyder's game since junior high school, but he had to battle through a total of 16 contests from his senior year at Palmerton into his first year at Moravian to remember what it felt like to win.Snyder remembers that losing-streak busting win very well. Not only because it had been so long since he got to celebrate a victory, but because of the role he played in it.Palmerton finished 0-10 in Snyder's senior season with the Blue Bombers and when he was a freshman at Moravian, the Greyhounds were 0-6 until he played in what he calls his "breakout game.""We played a really good Franklin and Marshall team who had an All American quarterback," Snyder recalled. "Our 3-4 defense played great, I tipped a couple of passes and we had two interceptions. It was my first victory in two years. You can imagine how that felt."Someone who's not a football fan might wonder why anyone would want to run into the force of a massive offensive lineman's blocks several hundred times a season."I love the mental game with the guy who's trying to block me," said Snyder who at times would line up nose-to-nose with the center.. "I have to rely on very quick feet and use my hands to control his block, move him out of the way, keep my balance, and then try to get to the ball."At the line of scrimmage, a cat and mouse game occurs on each play."Sometimes, I would bull rush right through my opponent and other times, I would speed rush around him and go through the gap. He had to try to figure out what move I'm going to use before each the snap of the ball."Snyder credits Palmerton assistant coach, Mike Falcone for teaching him the intricacies of defensive line play.Moravian head coach, Jeff Pukszyn described Snyder as " a weight room warrior" and "arguably the most dominating defensive lineman in the conference this past season.""John was a knock back player at the point of attack and he could rush the passer as well," Pukszyn said. "He often created a new line of scrimmage with his relentless effort and his excellent skill set. John was so well conditioned he played as hard at snap 80 in the game as he did at snap one."Pukszyn said Snyder was a "high character guy" and a "great locker room influence" and was elected captain by his teammates this year.Snyder, once a shot put and discuss track star for at Palmerton, tore his ACL during his sophomore season at Moravian and was sidelined for four games and needed to rehab for eight months."I learned to really appreciate playing football after the injury took some games away from me," Snyder said. "I learned to never take anything for granted."Although his football career at Moravian is finished, coach Pukszyn will continue to show his appreciation for Snyder in seasons to come."We will be showing our new recruits videos of John's play as the best example of what we want from our defensive linemen," said Pukszyn.After graduation, the economics and sociology major will be looking for a career in law enforcement. That should be a smooth transition from the game of football for John Snyder. He has already proved that he can enforce the law of "no trespassing" on the line of scrimmage.