SCAC Announces 2009 All-Conference Football Team

SCAC Announces 2009 All-Conference Football Team

SUWANEE, Ga. - DePauw University and Millsaps College each went 5-1 in league play to share the 2009 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) football crown. For that success on the gridiron, both were awarded with two major awards each with today's announcement of the 2009 All-SCAC Football team.

In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the conference, Alex Koors of DePauw was selected as the league's Offensive Player-of-the-Year while Will Hawkins of Millsaps was voted the league's Defensive Player-of-the-Year.

Hawkins' teammate, Michael Galatas, was selected as Special Teams Player-of-the-Year for the second consecutive year while DePauw's Robby Long was voted the league's Coach-of-the-Year.

In the same balloting, Kyle Trella of Trinity University was named the SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year.

Alex Koors, a 6-2, 168-pound junior receiver from Indianapolis, Ind., set the DePauw single season receiving yards mark this season with 1,266 yards - the third highest total in SCAC history. His 73 receptions this year places him in a tie for the ninth-most in a SCAC single season and his 13 receiving touchdowns are tied for the fourth-most. Currently ranked third in the nation in receiving yards, Koors had two 200+ yard receiving games this season (212 yards vs. Millsaps and 209 yards vs. Anderson). He is the first conference receiver to post two 200+ yard receiving games in a single-season since David Crowley of Centre in 2004. For his career and with a year still remaining in Greencastle, Koors is already ranked in the league's all-time top 10 for career receptions (169 - 10th), receiving yards (2,595 - fifth) and receiving touchdowns (26 - fifth).

Koors received six votes in the Offensive POTY voting with Chris Baer of Trinity University and Shane Bowser of Millsaps College receiving one vote each.

Will Hawkins, a 6-2, 230-pound junior linebacker from Nettleton, Miss., tied for the SCAC lead with 102 tackles, becoming the first Millsaps player in six years with 100 tackles in a season. He had double digit tackles in five of the team's last six games, including a career-high 17 against Birmingham-Southern. Hawkins also finished tied for eighth in the conference with 7.5 tackles-for-loss and added three interceptions and two recovered fumbles. The league's reigning Offensive Player-of-the-Year in baseball, Hawkins is just the second SCAC student-athlete to earn Player-of-the-Year honors in two separate sports - excluding cross country and track and field - following Liz Bondi of DePauw who was SCAC POTY in both women's basketball (twice) and tennis (three times).

Hawkins received four votes in the Defensive POTY balloting to nose out Brian Sneed of Centre College, who received three votes. Thomas Wrona of DePauw received the remaining first-place vote.

Michael Galatas, a 5-10, 175-pound receiver/kick returner from Lacombe, La., is the first SCAC student-athlete to earn back-to-back Special Teams Player-of-the-Year honors since DePauw's Jamarcus Shephard in 2003 and 2004. Galatas finished second in the SCAC in all-purpose yards (142.1 yards per game), which included a Millsaps single-season record 687 kick return yards and two touchdowns. He also broke the school's career record with three kick return for touchdowns. Galatas averaged 25.4 yards per kick return, which was good for second in the SCAC (35th nationally). As a receiver, Galatas was selected First Team All-SCAC after catching 32 passes for 632 yards and nine touchdowns.

Galatas garnered six votes in the Special Teams Player-of-the-Year voting. Garrett Biel of Trinity received the remaining two votes. This is the fourth consecutive year that a Millsaps player has been selected the league's Special Teams POTY. Former Majors Chris Jackson (2006) and John Milazzo (2007) earned the award prior to Galatas' two selections.

Kyle Trella, a 6-0, 165-pound first-year punter from Chandler, Ariz., had three punts over 60 yards this season, as well as several more punts over 50 yards. He broke a 46-year-old school record with his 48.8 yards per punt average against Sewanee, and now holds four of the top 10 averages in Trinity single-game history (min. five punts). Trella was a huge weapon for the Tigers as he dropped over 33% of his punts inside the 20-yard line (16). As of the end of the regular season, Trella led all of Division III in punting average at 44.0 yards per punt.

Trella received three votes in the NOTY balloting, followed closely by Shawn Morris of Birmingham-Southern College and Greg Harrell of Austin College, who received two votes each. Tevin Goggins of Millsaps received the remaining first-place vote.

After guiding DePauw to a share of its third SCAC football title and the program's first-ever NCAA playoff appearance, Robby Long was selected by his peers as SCAC Coach-of-the-Year. Long, who turned 30 on Sunday, took over as interim head football coach on August 7. He had spent the previous five seasons as an assistant coach at DePauw, including the last three as the Tigers' assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. Long led the Tigers to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs. DePauw battled #10 Thomas More in Kentucky Saturday, but came up on the short end of a 49-39 score and ended the 2009 season with a 7-3 record. Long had the "interim" tag removed from his title on Tuesday and was officially named head coach.

Long captured five votes in the COTY balloting. Mike DuBose of Millsaps, Andy Frye of Centre and Steve Mohr of Trinity received one vote each.

To view the complete 2009 All-SCAC Football Team release, click here.

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