Borsellino Headlines All-NAC Football Awards
Borsellino Headlines All-NAC Football Awards
Benedictine's John Borsellino headlined the awards for the 2011 football season as he was named the Northern Athletics Conference Offensive Player of the Year. The junior running back was also a First Team All-NAC selection on both offense and special teams.
The awards, voted on by the league's head coaches, include first and second All-NAC teams, honorable mention selections, All-Sportsmanship Team, and the major awards of Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year.
Excluding the top offensive award, the three other major awards were ties and had co-award winners.
The All-Sportsmanship Team included one member from each school and was chosen based on the principles of sportsmanship as promoted by the NAC and NCAA.
Borsellino established single-season school records for touchdowns (17), carries (234) and rushing yards (1,282) for the Eagles. He led the league in all three categories and is currently 17th in the nation with 128.2 yards per carry. As a return man, Borsellino averaged 26.2 yards per kick-off return, including a touchdown, and 12.1 yards per return on punts.
Maranatha's Ethan Lane and Benedictine's Ben Lockton were named Co-Defensive Players of the Year, both also first team selections.
Lane, a junior linebacker, led the league in tackles with 12.60 per game, also fifth-best in the nation. He also picked off a pair of passes, forced four fumbles and had a pass breakup for the Crusaders (3-7, 1-6 NAC).
Lockton, a junior defensive lineman, averaged 8.70 tackles a game and league-best 2.30 tackles for loss, currently fourth in NCAA Division III. He also had a conference-high 5.5 sacks for the NCAA-Playoff bound Eagles.
The Co-Freshmen of the Year were Concordia Wisconsin's Austin Damaschke and Rockford's Seth Swinehart.
As a rookie quarterback for the Falcons (4-6, 4-3), Damaschke completed over 53 percent of his passes for 1,517 yards (151.7 per game), 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Swinehart, a linebacker, led the Regents (0-10, 0-7) with 91 tackles, good for sixth best in the conference. He also recorded a sack and had nine tackles for loss.
The Co-Coaches of the Year went to the leaders of the co-champions, Benedictine's Jon Cooper and Concordia Chicago's Lonnie Pries.
Cooper led the Eagles to a share of their second-straight conference title and second-straight trip to the NCAA III Playoffs with a 7-3 overall record, 6-1 in conference play. It's his second NAC award.
Pries, who received his first NAC award in 2009, guided the Cougars to a share of their first NAC title, also with a 6-1 conference record, 7-2 overall. The Cougars had the league's top scoring offense (33.2 points per game) and defense (18.3).