13 Players Earn All-Region Accolades
The ninth annual D3football.com All-Region Teams have been announced and the Empire 8 Athletic Conference had 13 student-athletes named to the All-East Region Team.
First Team All-Region
Ithaca College senior tight end Ben Cary led the Bombers with nine touchdowns in his senior season, eight receiving and one rushing. He tallied 383 yards on 45 catches and 22 yards on five rushing attempts.
Utica senior Zach Hunnewell wrapped up his career as a four year starter and garners a five star lineman rating from the coaching staff. He personally allowed just one sack all season and anchored an offensive line that finished its season ranked third nationally by allowing an average of .55 sacks per game. He helped pave the way for 1,699 rushing yards and a new school-record of 29 touchdowns on the ground. He was the lead blocker for the program's all-time leading rusher and he also protected the blind side of the quarterback.
Buffalo State junior Marquis Artis finished fifth in the Empire 8 in tackles with 99, including nine tackles for a loss and three sacks. He came away with two interceptions, broke up seven passes, forced four fumbles and had six games of 10 or more tackles this season. Artis was also named Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year and helped pace a Bengals' defense that led the league with 31 takeaways including a conference-best 18 interceptions.
Salisbury University senior punter Kyle Hamby, recently named the E8 Special Teams Player of the Year, finished the 2014 season with a 41.2 yard average per punt for the Sea Gulls. Of his 45 boots this season, he dropped 11 inside the 20-yard line and clobbered a season long punt of 65 yards.
Second Team All-Region
Buffalo State senior Mike Doherty earns his second All-East Region honors after being named to the third team last season. He also garnered first team accolades in the Empire 8 as both a wide receiver and as an all-purpose returner. He led the conference with a school record 62 catches, and also had a league-best 1,144 receiving yards and 1,877 all-purpose yards. He scored 10 touchdowns and finished his career as the school's all-time leader with 176 receptions. He also owns school records for catches in a game (15 in the ECAC Southwest Bowl), kickoff returns in a career (97), kickoff return yards in a career (2,261), and all-purpose yards in a game (419), season (1,877) and career (5,554).
Center
Zach Shipley has been named to the All-East Region First Team after an outstanding season for Fisher. Shipley helped power a line which paved the way for the 35th ranked rushing offense in the nation at nearly 228 yards per game. Fisher racked up 455 yards of total offense per game and ranked 37th in the country in scoring offense at 37 points per contest.
Tarik Bennett led Brockport with 7.5 sacks and was third in the final conference standings in sacks. Additionally, he was fifth in the league with 11.5 tackles for loss. As a team, Brockport led the conference with 29 sacks and allowed the lowest pass completion percentage as the only team in the conference to hold opponents below a 50% completion percentage.
Utica junior defensive end
Nick Woodman had a breakout season, as he led the Empire 8 and set a new school-record for sacks in a single season with 12. He finished ranked 14th nationally in sacks per game (1.05) and fourth in the Empire 8 in tackles for a loss per game (1.2). He also led the Empire 8 and finished 10th nationally with three fumble recoveries.
Third Team All-Region
Senior quarterback
Tyler Fenti was the other offensive representative for Fisher, earning a spot on the All-East Region Third Team. Fenti, who was a second team selection last season, guided Fisher to an 8-2 regular season record to finish his career with 16 career wins as the Cardinals signal caller. The Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Year finished with 2,127 yards passing and 23 touchdowns for the 2014 season. Fenti finished the year ranked 14th nationally in passing efficiency at 166.1 per game after throwing just four interceptions on the season.
The All-East Region Third Team Defense was made up of four Cardinals including
Jordan Andrews,
Peter DiMilia,
Bryant Moore and
Ryan Ballard.
At defensive tackle, Andrews provided stability on the line throughout the entire season. Fisher had the second best rushing defense in the Empire 8, surrendering just 104 yards per game. The Cardinals held five opponents throughout year to under 50 yards rushing, including holding Alfred State to -4 yards rushing on 36 attempts. Andrews recorded 43 tackles and one sack on the year.
DiMilia came on strong at linebacker this season leading the team in sacks with 6.5 and tying for the team lead with 11.5 tackles for loss. He finished as the third leading tackler on the team with 70.
Moore and Ballard solidified the Fisher secondary with their veteran leadership in 2014, and were a key component of a defense that allowed just 15.3 points per game. Moore was the leading tackler for the Cardinals with 82, while Ballard was a close second with 75. At season's end, Moore had two interceptions and Ballard forced two fumbles.