Three Juniors Earn OAC Football Awards; Raiders Have 10 All-OAC First Team Picks
Three Mount Union football juniors in offensive lineman Antonio Tate(Cleveland/Villa Angela St. Joseph), defensive end Charles Dieuseul (Winter Haven, Fla./Lake Region) and safety Nick Driskill (Wabash, Ind./Southwood) each earned OAC special awards and were three of 10 Raiders named to the All-OAC First Team by the conference's 10 head coaches.
Tate received the Ken Wable Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman award as he startedall 10 regular season games at left tackle for a unit that topped the conference in scoring and total offense. He is the 17th Mount Union player to win the award named for former Raider head coach Ken Wable and first since Derek Blanchard in 2007.
Dieuseul earned the Paul Hoernemann Oustanding Defensive Lineman award as he started all 10 regular season games and was among conference leaders with 5.5 sacks and 12.0 tackles for loss and is a two-time All-OAC First Team pick. He is the 11th Raider to win the award named for College Football Hall of Famer and former Heidelberg coach Paul Hoernemann and first since James Herbert in 2008.
Driskill nabbed the Lee Tressel Outstanding Defensive Back award as he started all 10 games and leads the Raiders in tackles and interceptions while he is the conference leader in passes defended who has earned Academic All-OAC and two-time Academic All-District honors. He is the ninth Raider to win the award named for College Football Hall of Famer and former Baldwin-Wallace coach Lee Tressel and is the first Mount Union player since Drew McClain in 2009 to win the award.
The trio were joined on the All-OAC First Team by senior center Brett Ekkens (Kentwood,Mich./East Kentwood) along with juniors Jasper Collins (Geneva, N.Y./Geneva) at wide receiver, Matt Mattox (St. Joseph, Mich./St. Joseph) on the offensive line and Jeremy Murray (Martins Ferry/Martins Ferry) at running back on offense. On defense was senior linebacker Arthur Smith (Miami, Fla/Killian) and senior defensive back Alex Ferrara(Independence/Walsh Jesuit) along with sophomore Matt Fechko (Twinsburg/Twinsburg).
Rounding out the first team selections was senior kicker Tyler Almeida (Elyria/Elyria).
All-OAC Second Team selections include senior wide receiver A.J. Claycomb (Medina/Medina) and juniors in defensive lineman Frank Orteca(Twinsburg/Twinsburg) and defensive back Isaiah Scott (Hamilton/Fairfield).
Senior linebacker Jorge Carbonell (Miami, Fla./Archbishop Carroll) and junior offensive lineman Mac Knisely (Perrysburg/Perrysburg) were both All-OAC honorable mention selections.
The group helped lead No. 2 ranked Mount Union to a 20th consecutive and 23rd overall OAC football championship. The Purple Raiders (11-0) take on No. 25 ranked Centre (Ky.) in the second round of the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs this Saturday at noon at Mount Union Stadium in Alliance, Ohio.
