Capital One Academic All-District Honors Seven Football Players
Seven Empire 8 football student-athletes have been selected to the
Capital One Academic All-District Football Teams.
The teams, which are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom.
The Academic All-District teams are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. They include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants.
Salisbury's Wayne WIlford, Josh Danko and Zak Osborne were named to the District 2 Team. Ithaca's Tom Dempsey and Ben Cary, Alfred's Michael Berardi and St. John Fisher's Peter DiMilia were named to the District 3 team.
Wilford carries a 3.95 cumulative grade-point average as a math major. Wilford has been key in Salisbury's special teams play as the long snapper throughout his career. He has recorded nine tackles in his time in maroon and gold.
Danko is a defensive lineman, who is a captain on the 2014 team, but has missed part of the season due to injury. An accounting and finance major, with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.96, Danko recorded 18 tackles, one of which was for loss, and recovered a fumble in the first five games of the year.
Osborne, a sophomore athletically, is a graduate student at Salisbury University, with a 3.31 GPA through his undergraduate work in physical education. Osborne joined the program in 2013 as a place kicker and has connected on 5-of-8 field goal attempts and has hit 55-of-57 point-after tries for 70 career points.
Dempsey, a senior quarterback, carries a 3.78 gpa in integrated marketing communications. He has played all nine games this season completeing 184-of-272 passes for 2025 yards and 20 touchdowns. He has also gained 84 yards on 44 carries with one touchdown.
Cary, a tight end, has gained 345 yards on 39 catches to go along with seven touchdowns in nine games. He is an accounting major with a 3.79 gpa.
Berardi has appeared in all nine games for the Saxons and is the team's third leading tackler with 48 (29 solo). He has one tackle for a loss and an interception. In the classroom he carries a 3.76 as a mechanical engineering major.
DiMilia, who owns a 3.65 cumulative grade point average while majoring in chemistry, is pivotal piece to the top ranked defense in the Empire 8. Fisher is holding opponents this season to just 15.8 points and 268.7 total yards per game. The Claryville native currently ranks third on the team with 54 tackles, including a team-leading 10.5 tackles for losses. DiMilia picked up a career-high 14 earlier in season against Salisbury University earlier in the season. He also has four pass breakups on the year and a team-leading 5.5 sacks.