**Gonna keep this all in one thread. Make it a little easier, and better for record keeping.**
For the "second year," I am able to put together a Conference All-American team list as an added bonus for the committed coaches of the American Southwest Conference. It is an honor and a privilege to do this (and a whole lot of fun). Enjoy!
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The American Southwest Conference enjoyed a stellar year from its participating schools:
East Texas Baptist
Lead by
coach agoptix, he has guided ETB to its best season to date and is currently the #1 seed in the South Region. ETB also had the distinct honor of being the #1 ranked school thoroughout most of the year according to the Press, Coaches, and WIS. ETB was undefeated up until the conference championship game, with quality wins over Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Corporation (MAC) winner and now #1 ranked
Moravian, and Ohio Athletic Conference champion
Mount Union.
Grade: A+
Texas Lutheran
In his 20th season, all with Texas Lutheran,
Coach Mongstad42 has led the Bulldogs to a great 10-3 year, just falling short of the playoffs. Texas Lutheran showed much promise early on in the year, beating perennial powerhouse
peanutjets and his
Anderson (IN) squad
31-28. Texas Lutheran began conference play ranked #2 in D-III, facing off against then #1 ranked East Texas Baptist, losing in a hard fought defensive struggle,
10-7. Texas Lutheran looked prime for a playoff run, but a late stumble against Claremont McKenna-Harvey led to just barely missing out on an at-large bid.
Grade: A-
Hardin-Simmons
Coach Someone78 led the Cowboys to a respectable 9-4 season. Having started off great, going 5-0 in non-conference play, the team faced some tough breaks during conference play. Losing in double OT to Cal Lutheran in the conference opener seemed to stun the team as they were a 20.5 favorite in the game. Hardin-Simmons would have great first halfs, but then fall short later in games, examples being against then #1 ranked East Texas Baptist and top 10 Texas Lutheran. A good team and coach that just fell short in a couple games, look for them to rebound strong in season 76 under the leadership of someone78 (
hint, hint , nudge nudge)
Grade: B+
McMurry
Facing a very uphill battle, first year
coach zachd78 performed admirably. The highlight of McMurry's season being their week 4 matchup against
Guilford (11-2), taking them to overtime and just coming up short
19-16. McMurry has scheduled a very tough season 76 non-conference schedule, but zachd78 will have McMurry up to the challenge and leading the War Hawks back to prominence.
Grade: B- (Did the best with what you had, good job zachd78!)
Austin
After coming up short in the quaterfinals of last years playoffs, Austin College, led again by
Coach SJCI, was looking to rebound with a strong year. After surviving a strong test from peanutjets led Anderson (IN), Austin was able to finish out the year undefeated, 13-0, but was faced with a low WIS ranking due to a poor non-conference schedule. The Kangaroos were able to win the American Southwest Conference title over a tough #1 East Texas Baptist team, enabling them to sneak into the #2 spot in the North Region of the D-III playoffs.
Grade: A
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*Now on to the fun stuff*
Offensive Player of the Year
QB Donald Kaufman - Austin
Co-Defensive Players of the Year
LB Ernest Stanley and DB Edward Brown - Austin
Coach of the Year
Agoptix - East Texas Baptist
FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICANS
Offense
QB - Donald Kaufman - Austin: 587/921 -63.7% - 7796 YDS - 88 TD 17 INT
RB - Andrew Hudson - East Texas Baptist: 304 - 1714 YDS - 5.6 AVG - 6 TD
RB - Steven Alexander - Mississippi: 281 - 1435 YDS - 5.1 AVG - 7TD
WR - Ralph Yates - Austin: 98 - 1916 YDS - 19.6 AVG - 23TD
WR - Keith Johnson - Austin: 90 - 1575 YDS - 17.5 AVG - 20 TD
TE - Jeffery Allen - Hardin Simmons: 44 - 497 YDS - 11.3 AVG - 3 TD
OL - Charles Brown - Texas Lutheran
OL - Charles Cohen - Austin
OL - David Fuentes - Austin
OL - Fred Robinson - Texas Lutheran
OL - Jason Strickland - East Texas Baptist
K - Jeffery Solomon - East Texas Baptist: 27/30 FG - 90.0% - 45 LONG - 46/53 XP - 86.8%
Defense
DL - Lawrence Anderson - Austin: 84 TKL - 13 SACKS - 5 FF
DL - William Blake - Austin: 79 TKL - 8 SACKS - 5 FF
DL - Anthony Rich - Hardin-Simmons: 85 TKL - 9 SACKS - 4 FF
DL - Jason Walker - McMurry: 70 TKL - 12 SACK - 1 FF
LB - Ernest Stanley - Austin: 60 TKL - 7 SACKS - 4 INT - 8 PD - 3 FF
LB - Floyd Phillips - Austin: 81 TKL - 0 SACKS - 5 INT - 3 PD - 2 FF
LB - Kenneth Freeman - East Texas Baptist: 54 TKL - 0 SACKS - 3 INT - 9 PD - 1 FF
DB - Edward Brown - Austin: 52 TKL - 10 INT - 14 PD - 4 FF
DB - Edgar Hill - East Texas Baptist: 28 TKL - 6 INT - 10 PD - 3 FF
DB - Michael Brown - Texas Lutheran: 48 TKL - 4 INT - 8 PD - 0 FF
DB - Wayne Hardy - Austin: 49 TKL - 4 INT - 19 PD - 0 FF
P - Peter Smiley - Mary Hardin Baylor: 95 P - 44.1 AVG - 55 LONG - 6 TB - 24 (INSIDE 20)
SECOND TEAM ALL-AMERICANS
Offense
QB - Bernard Hopkins - Hardin-Simmons
RB - Jacob Holmes - Claremont McKenna-Harvey
RB - Donald Walker - Sul Ross State
WR - Stephen Swanson - Austin
WR - Gary Davis - Austin
TE - George Johnson - Austin
OL - Jim Patterson - Louisiana
OL - Joseph Graham - Texas Lutheran
OL - Christopher Robinson - Hardin-Simmons
OL - David Anderson - East Texas Baptist
OL - Jared Miller - Mississippi
K - John Giles - Sul Ross State
Defense
DL - Timothy Crouch - Louisiana
DL - Russell Ortiz - East Texas Baptist
DL - Christopher McCall - East Texas Baptist
DL - William Coffey - Texas Lutheran
LB - Jeffery Bell - Texas Lutheran
LB - Andrew Hodge - Mississippi
LB - Lester Foster - Sul Ross State
DB - Robert Flores - Hardin-Simmons
DB - Brian Rodriguez - East Texas Baptist
DB - Luis Dickinson - Sul Ross State
DB - Michael Crawford - Austin
P - James Walden - Hardin-Simmons
Honorable Mentions
QB - Nicholas Bean - East Texas Baptist
RB - Tyler Stanley - Texas Lutheran
WR - Timothy Whaley - Hardin-Simmons
TE - Tim Melendez - East Texas Baptist
OL - John Crump - Hardin-Simmons
OL - Leonard Lynch - Austin
K - Robert Lewis - Austin
DL - Carlos McCord - Sul Ross State
DL - Robert Montgomery - East Texas Baptist
LB - Scott White - Texas Lutheran
DB - Bill Vargas - Austin
P - Scott Chatman - Claremont McKenna-Harvey