KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Washburn's Zach Watkins, who finished his career with a school record 470 total tackles was named the MIAA's Defensive Player of the Year. He joins Trey Lewis (2006) as the only Ichabods to receive the league's top defensive honor as voted on by the MIAA's coaches.

Watkins led the MIAA in tackles with 108 and a 9.8 tackles per game average was also named to the MIAA's first team defensive unit for the third time in his career.

Redshirt freshman Pierre Desir, who led the league in interceptions with seven was the other Ichabod to receive first team all-MIAA honors.

Senior defensive end Eric Lawrence finished fourth in the MIAA in sacks with his 6.5 stops and his 13.5 tackles for loss was third in the conference as he finished with 49 overall tackles with 26 solo stops.

Named to the second team were sophomore quarterback Dane Simoneau, who set school single-season records for passing yards (2,955), passing completions (186), total offense (2,923) and passing percentage (60.4) along with senior wide receiver Drameagon Powers, sophomore offensive tackle Brian Folkerts and junior center Ty Lewis and senior placekicker Steve Ivanisevic.

Powers led the Ichabods with 42 catches for 758 receiving yards averaging 18 yards a catch with six touchdown receptions.

Folkerts and Lewis helped the Ichabods set a new single-season team scoring record with 449 points averaging 40.8 points per game while averaging 473.5 yards per game in total offense.

Ivanisevic, who is ranked second in the nation in field goals per game, set a new school record with his 19 field goals on 21 attempts hitting 90.5 of his attempts. His season long was a 47-yard against Northwest Missouri and he hit 5 of his 6 attempts between 40 and 49 yards. He twice tied the school record with four made field goals in a single game against New Mexico Highlands and Northwest Missouri. He finished second in the MIAA in scoring averaging 9.9 points per game, which also led all kick scorers in the conference. His 109 points scored on the season is the third-most in Washburn history and his total was 22 points ahead of the next kicker in the conference.

Named second team all-MIAA defense fro Washburn were senior defensive end Ben Bianchino, senior linebacker Michael Krajicek and junior safety Casey Curran.

Bianchino was third in the MIAA in sacks with 7.0 - all solo sacks while recording 38 tackles with 10 tackles for loss for 58 yards.

Krajicek, who was just named the MIAA's special teams player of the week after blocking two punts returning one for a touchdown against Emporia State, was third on the team with 80 total tackles including 50 solo stops and 10.5 tackles for loss with two sacks.

Curran finished second on the team with 88 tackles including three tackles for loss with two interceptions.

Named honorable mention all-MIAA were redshirt freshman Vershon Moore, senior fullback Brad Haug, sophomore tight end Ryan Mertz, junior offensive lineman Bill Boyer, senior defensive tackle Brandon Jackson and junior punter Austin Hills.


2009 ALL-MIAA FOOTBALL TEAM

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LaRon Council, Sr., RB, Northwest Missouri
 
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Zach Watkins, Sr., LB, Washburn
 
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Levi Terrell, RB, Nebraska-Omaha
 
COACH OF THE YEAR
Mel Tjeerdsma, Northwest Missouri

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE
QB: Blake Bolles, Jr., Northwest Missouri
RB: LaRon Council, Sr. Northwest Missouri** [r1]
RB: Levi Terrell, Fr., Nebraska-Omaha
WR: Jake Soy, So., Northwest Missouri**
WR: Cedric Houston, Sr., Missouri Western
TE: Mike Higgins, Jr., Nebraska-Omaha
OL: Harrison Lingenfelter, Jr., Nebraska-Omaha
OL: Jason Wiseman, Jr., Northwest Missouri
OL: Brett Grozinger, Jr., Northwest Missouri
OL: Wes Yarbough, Sr., Fort Hays State
OL: Nathan Martin, Sr., Missouri Western
K: Greg Zuerlein, Jr., Nebraska-Omaha [r1]
KR/PR: C.J. Lovett, Sr., Fort Hays State
 
**Unanimous Selection
[r1] – Repeat first team selection from last season
 
FIRST TEAM DEFENSE
DL: Zac Keller, Sr., Nebraska-Omaha
DL: Eric Lawrence, Sr., Washburn
DL: P.J. South, Jr., Central Missouri
DL: Tyler Roach, Sr., Northwest Missouri
LB: Zach Watkins, Sr., Washburn** [r1][r1]
LB: Chad Kilgore, So., Northwest Missouri
LB: Eric Sternberg, Sr., Truman
DB: Randy Shepherd, Sr., Central Missouri**
DB: Myles Burnsides, Sr., Northwest Missouri [r1][r1]
DB: Pierre Desir, Fr., Washburn
DB: Ryan Jones, Jr., Northwest Missouri
P: Jordan Hofer, Sr., Central Missouri
 
**Unanimous Selection
[r1] – Repeat first team selection from last season
[r1][r1] – Repeat first team selection from the last two seasons
 
SECOND TEAM OFFENSE
QB: Mike Garrison, Jr., Fort Hays State
QB: Dane Simoneau, So., Washburn
RB: Anthony Stewart, Jr., Central Missouri  
RB: James Walker, Jr., Fort Hays State
WR: O.J. Murdock, Jr., Fort Hays State
WR: Drameagon Powers, Sr., Washburn
TE: DeMarco Cosby, Jr., Central Missouri
OL: Brian Folkerts, So., Washburn
OL: Dennis Bergland, Jr., Nebraska-Omaha
OL: Jay Nunez, Sr., Pittsburg State
OL: Ty Lewis, Jr., Washburn
OL: Chris Norris, Sr., Missouri Southern
OL: Todd Shelton, Sr., Missouri Western
K: Steve Ivanisevic, Sr., Washburn
KR/PR: Cedric Houston, Sr., Missouri Western
 
[Note: Ties in voting created an additional spot at QB and OL]

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE
DL: Sean Paddock, Sr., Northwest Missouri
DL: Jairius Jarvis, Jr., Missouri Southern
DL: Shayne Shade, Jr., Northwest Missouri
DL: Ben Bianchino, Sr., Washburn
DL: Jeremy Wallace, So., Central Missouri
LB: Bobby Stroup, Jr., Nebraska-Omaha
LB: Sean Whiters, Jr., Missouri Western
LB: Michael Krajicek, Sr., Washburn
DB: C.J. Lovett, Sr., Fort Hays State
DB: Casey Curran, Jr., Washburn
DB: Demetrius Lavant, Sr., Truman
DB: Alex Kuhlman, Jr., Pittsburg State
P: Ethan Kosjer, So., Fort Hays State
 
[Note: Ties in voting created an additional spot at DL]

HONORABLE MENTION
Central Missouri: Eric Czerniewski, Jr., QB; Bobby Guillory, Sr., WR/KR; Nate Stoffel, So., OL; Mike Martin, Sr., OL; Chris Gilchriest, Sr., DL
 
Emporia State: Kevin Smart, Jr., RB; Danny McEvoy, Sr., WR; Jordan Godberson, So., OL; Daniel Webb, Jr., DL; Nathan Linsey, Jr., LB; Tyler Chilson, So., P
 
Fort Hays State: Cordarol Scales, Jr., WR; Anthony Smith, Jr., WR; Beau Gadwood, Jr., TE; Colby McKinney, Jr., OL; Jacob Crossman, Jr., DL; Nathan Rausa, Sr., K
 
Missouri Southern: Johnny Johnson, Sr., RB; Daniel Thompson, Sr., WR; Dave Benham, Sr., DL; Dusty Bratzler, Jr., LB; Antwoine Brown, Fr., DB; Justin Cowper, Jr., DB
 
Missouri Western: Drew Newhart, Jr., QB; Thomas Hodges, Jr., RB; Ferrell McGhee, Sr., WR; Steve Jones, Sr., OL; Brad Davidson, Sr., DL; Matt Glades, Jr., LB; Ian Thompson, Jr., DB; Brad Beckwith, Jr., K
 
Nebraska-Omaha: Greg Wunderlich, Sr., QB; Ben Vanderslice, Sr., DL; Nate Wissink, So., DL; Jason Zabka, Sr., DB
 
Northwest Missouri: Tyler Shaw, Fr., WR; Abe Qaoud, Sr., WR; Kyle Sunderman, Jr., DL; Evan Wilmes, Sr., LB; Adam Vondrak, Jr., LB; Aldwin Foster-Rettig, Jr., DB
 
Pittsburg State: Terrance Isaac, Jr., RB; Kendall Fisher, Sr., WR; Martin Burke, Sr., TE; Mike Roberts, Sr., DL; Caleb Jessup, Sr., LB; Antonio Graham, Sr., LB
 
Truman: Vanness Emokpae, Jr., WR; Shea Carr, Jr., OL; Ryan Ploesser, Jr., DL; Michael Elliott, So., DB
 
Washburn: Vershon Moore, Fr., RB; Brad Haug, Sr., FB; Ryan Mertz, So., TE; Bill Boyer, Jr., OL; Brandon Jackson, Sr., DL; Austin Hills, Jr., P