E8 Unveils 2016 Football Awards
Top Honors go to Johnson, LiCata, Schemm, Germinerio and Alfred Coaching Staff
The Empire 8 announced the 2016 Football All-Conference teams with Alfred University’s
Tyler Johnson and
A.J. LiCata earning Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively and the
Alfred coaching staff led by third year head coach Bob Rankl was voted the Coaching Staff of the Year.
Ithaca College’s
Jordan Schemm was voted the Special Teams Player of the Year, while The College at Brockport’s
Joe Germinerio was selected the Rookie of the Year.
Through 11 games to date, Johnson has a 164-efficiency rating with 21 touchdown passes. He has thrown just four interceptions in 233 passing attempts and a completion percentage of 62.66 % (146-of-233). Johnson has totaled 2082 yards to guide the Saxons to an average of 37.2 points per game. He has thrown for 200 or more yards on five different occasions and three or more touchdowns in three games. Johnson is also dominant on the run, totaling 902 rushing yards, including three games with more than 100 yards. Johnson is the second Offensive Player of the Year from Alfred and the first since Jared Manzer in 2009. Brenton Brady was the Player of the Year in 2004, prior to the award being divided into an Offensive and Defensive award.
LiCata is Alfred’s fourth Defensive Player of the Year. He is spearheading a Saxon defense that allows just 19.82 points per game, 289.3 total yards per contest, and 93.4 rushing yards per game. The total yards by defense leads the E8 by almost 40 yards. The linebacker has racked up 122 total tackles with 71 solo stops. Nine of his tackles were for a loss and his 3.5 sacks set the opposition back 21 yards. LiCata’s season high came against Husson and Brockport in which he made 16 tackles.
Johnson’s and LiCata’s awards mark the second time in E8 history that the Offensive and Defensive Player have been from the same institution.
An impact player for Ithaca on special teams, Schemm led the Empire 8 in punt returns with an average of 17.1 yards per return. He recorded 257 total yards on 15 returns with a long of 60 yards for a touchdown. On kickoffs, Schemm averaged 27.7 yards per return for a total of 443 yards. Schemm is the third Bomber to be honored as Special Teams Player of the Year joining previous recipients Andrew Rogowski (2010 and Dan Ruffrage (2011).
Germinerio immediately stepped in to Brockport’s offense and proved he’d be a force in the conference. He is the first E8 Rookie of the Year from Brockport to earn the honor since the Golden Eagles joined the league in 2014. Germinerio totaled 1,499 passing yards on 113 completions in 10 games. He also averaged 55.6 rushing yards per game. Germinerio rushed for over 100 yards in two different games including his season high of 188 yards against SUNY Cortland.
Rankl and the Alfred coaching staff guided the Saxons to a perfect 10-0 regular season record and the Empire 8 title for the first time since 2010. Alfred went 8-0 in league games and earned the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Saxons won its first round NCAA game. Alfred is averaging 433.3 yards of total offense per game, while the defensive unit held opponents to 289.3 yards and registered 35 sacks for 209 yards.
One member of each team was named that institution’s representative on the 2016 Football Sportsman of the Year Team. Empire 8 emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete’s experience in conjunction with an institution’s educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportsmen.
Empire 8 2016 Football All-Conference Teams
Offensive Player of the Year: Tyler Johnson, Alfred University
Defensive Player of the Year: A.J. LiCata, Alfred University
Special Teams Player of the Year: Jordan Schemm, Ithaca College
Rookie of the Year: Joe Germinerio, The College at Brockport
Coaching Staff of the Year: Alfred University