Whitworth football team puts several members on all-league team
Led by a pair of prolific wide receivers, Whitworth had six players earn All-Northwest Conference honors in football it was announced Tuesday by the conference office. Four other Pirates received honorable mention.
Receivers Drew Clausen and Connor Williams were joined on the first team by left tackle Kyle Cosby and defensive end Danny Welstad. Quarterback Bryan Peterson and nose guard Brodrick Hirai made the second team. Running back Duke DeGaetano, receiver/kick returner Brett Moser, defensive back Paul Miller and linebacker JT Phelan received honorable mention.
Willamette’s Dylan Jones was named Offensive Player of the Year and Linfield’s Alex Hoff is the Defensive Player of the Year. Joseph Smith of Linfield was voted as Coach of the Year by his peers for the sixth consecutive season.
Clausen (West Valley), a senior, finished with 97 receptions for 645 yards and seven touchdowns. Williams (Coeur d’Alene), a senior, caught 87 passes for 885 yards and eight touchdowns.
Junior Kyle Cosby (University), started every game on the offensive line for the Pirates.
Danny Welstad, a junior, ranked among NWC leaders in sacks and tackles for loss as a defensive end. He finished with eight sacks in 10 games and 15 1/2 tackles for loss.
Peterson, a senior out of West Valley, earned second-team honors after he set NCAA Division III single-game records for pass completions (58) and pass attempts without an interception (82) in a win at La Verne. He averaged 34.0 completions per game, which also broke an NCAA Division III mark. He broke a multitude of school records, including the D-III records listed above, along with pass completions in a season (306) and career (688), pass attempts in a season (535) and career (1,081), total offense in a game (559 vs. La Verne) and a season (2,768), and TD passes in a single game (7 vs. Puget Sound), among others.
Hirai missed the entire 2013 season because of a knee injury. He bounced back this season with 36 tackles as Whitworth’s starting nose guard. He had 6 1/2 tackles for loss, including three sacks, and also forced a fumble.
Phelan (East Valley) led Whitworth with 64 total tackles, including nine for losses of 37 yards.
The Pirates finished 6-4 overall this season, 5-3 in the NWC (fourth place).
Rehkow on short list
University of Idaho sophomore Austin Rehkow is one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award, which annually recognizes the nation’s top punter.
Rehkow, who graduated from Central Valley, leads the nation in punting average for the second straight season with an average of 47.8 yards per kick. The other two finalists – Alabama’s JK Scott and Utah’s Tom Hackett, are the second- and third-ranked punters, respectively.