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Montana Stars Dominate I-Aa All-America Team Eastern’s Strey, Buzzard Earn Positions On Third Team

From Staff And Wire Reports

Quarterback Brian Ah Yat, who has Big Sky Conference champion Montana within a victory of its second straight national title, and 2,000-yard rusher Archie Amerson of Northern Arizona topped the Associated Press’ I-AA All-America team announced Wednesday.

Ah Yat, who threw for 3,615 yards and 42 touchdowns, leads a five-player Grizzlies contingent on the first team. His favorite target, wide receiver Joe Douglass, also made the team, along with center Jason Kempfert, guard Mike Agee and linebacker Jason Crebo.

Eastern Washington, which lost to Montana 34-30 during the regular season on a late TD pass from Ah Yat to Douglass, placed junior linebacker Derek Strey and junior offensive guard Jim Buzzard on the third team.

Ah Yat, a sophomore from Honolulu, completed 61 percent of his passes during the regular season, hitting on 265 of 432 attempts for a 156.3 efficiency rating. Douglass caught 82 passes for 1,469 yards and 19 touchdowns for an offense averaging 40.6 points per game.

In three playoff games, Ah Yat is 80 of 122 for 1,062 yards and nine TDs, while Douglass has 28 catches for 380 yards and two TDs. The Grizzlies (14-0) play Marshall (14-0) on Saturday for the I-AA title.

Amerson, averaging 6.2 yards a carry for the division’s total offense-leading Lumberjacks, had 2,079 yards and led I-AA in scoring with 26 touchdowns. He was joined in the backfield by VMI’s Thomas Haskins, one of five repeaters from last year’s team. Haskins ran for 1,704 yards and 15 touchdowns and owns the I-AA career rushing record at 5,355 yards.

The other wide receivers are Marshall freshman Randy Moss and Northern Iowa’s Dedric Ward, who also made last year’s team.

Moss caught 55 passes for 1,073 yards and 19 touchdowns. He set I-AA freshman records for receptions and yards. Ward had 70 catches for 1,556 yards and 17 touchdowns as Northern Iowa made it to the I-AA semifinals before losing to Marshall.

The all-purpose player is Scott Shields of Weber State. The free safety-punter-kicker was second in I-AA with 10 interceptions, hit 18 of 24 field goals and led the Big Sky Conference in punting with a 40.4-yard average.

See I-AA All-America list in stat sheet, page C6

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo