RICHMOND, Va. – The Touchdown Club of Richmond released its 2015 football awards and Washington and Lee junior Michael LaSala (Wilton, Conn. / Wilton) will be among those honored.
LaSala was selected as the College Division Offensive Lineman of the Year and will be honored at the 2015 Dudley/Lanier Awards Banquet sponsored by the Richmond Times Dispatch and the Touchdown Club of Richmond. The College Division encompasses all the NCAA Division II/III and NAIA schools in the state.
LaSala started all 11 games at tackle and helped lead the Generals' offense to the most prolific season in school history. W&L set a school record for wins in finishing 10-1 overall. It was the school's first undefeated regular season in 54 years, before the Generals fell to Thomas More in the opening round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Offensively, W&L set a slew of records, including total offense (5,439 yds.), rushing offense (4,773 yds.) and points scored (417). The Generals led all of college football with an average of 433.9 yards per game, as W&L produced the three best single-game rushing performances in Old Dominion Athletic Conference history. W&L rushed for a school-record 649 yards in a season-opening 63-35 win over Averett, and added 508 rushing yards against Emory & Henry and 506 rushing yards against Bridgewater. For his efforts, LaSala was named First Team All-ODAC earlier this season.
LaSala is the first W&L player to be honored at the banquet since Luke Heinsohn '13 and Jake Pelton '13 won the Offensive Back and Defensive Back Awards in 2012.
The Dudley/Lanier Award banquet is open to the public and will be held on December 9 at the Hilton Richmond Hotel at 7:30 pm. A pre-banquet social will begin at 6:30 pm. Tickets cost $40 and may be purchased by contacting Rudy Ward at 804-389-6819 or rudyward73@gmail.com.
The Dudley Award for the top FBS/FCS player in the state and the Lanier Award for the top college division player in the state will also be presented at the banquet. W&L has had two recent winners of the Lanier Award, Luke Heinsohn '13 in 2012 and Charlie Westfal '12 in 2011.
The Touchdown Club of Richmond is a sports-social organization that serves to promote the best interests of the American game of football and sports in general, under the guidance of elected officers with the predominate purpose being to recognize worthy athletes for their accomplishments and to encourage them to continue their education and athletic careers.