Thursday, December 19, 2002
Three Eastern Illinois players made the first team -- two on offense and one on defense.
VINDICATOR STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
Youngstown State senior tailback P.J. Mays was named to The Associated Press' I-AA All-America team Wednesday.
Mays was named to the second team offense. He finished the season with 1,284 yards rushing and scored 11 touchdowns. On 255 carries he averaged 5.0 yards per attempt and 116.7 yards per game -- the seventh-best total in I-AA. For his career he scored 45 touchdowns setting the Gateway Conference career mark in just three seasons.
Eastern Illinois quarterback Tony Romo was among three Panthers selected to the team.
Teammates
Romo, the three-time Ohio Valley Conference offensive player of the year, was joined on the 26-player team by running back J.R. Taylor and linebacker Nick Ricks.
McNeese State, which plays Western Kentucky for the I-AA national title Friday night, also had three players on the team -- strong safety Hadley Prince, linebacker Roderick Royal and center Jason Davis.
Romo, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior, threw for 2,950 yards and 33 touchdowns in leading Eastern Illinois to an 8-4 record and a playoff berth. Two losses were against I-A bowl teams -- Kansas State and Hawaii. In a 48-9 playoff loss to Western Illinois, Romo threw for 215 yards and a TD.
Villanova quarterback Brett Gordon made the second team, and Grambling State's Bruce Eugene was on the third team. Romo made the third team in 2001.
Taylor ran for 1,522 yards and 18 touchdowns for Eastern Illinois, which averaged 37.7 points per game. Ricks, the OVC's top defensive player, had 149 tackles, including 20 for losses.
Jay Bailey of Austin Peay was the other All-American running back. The 6-0, 205-pound senior led I-AA in rushing with 1,687 yards and 18 TDs. He was third nationally in all-purpose yards with 179.42 per game.
On receiving end
The receivers were Tramon Douglas of Grambling State, Carl Morris of Harvard and Willie Ponder of Southeast Missouri State.
Douglas caught 91 passes for 1,704 yards and 18 TDs, including two scores in Grambling's 31-19 win over Alabama A & amp;M in the Southwestern Athletic Conference title game.
Morris had 90 catches for 1,288 yards and eight TDs; Ponder had 87 catches for 1,453 yards and eight scores.
McNeese State (13-1) was among the top defensive teams this season, led by Prince. The 5-9, 195-pound senior was the Southland Conference player of the year with 100 tackles, 141/2 for losses. Royal had 82 tackles, 131/2 for losses.
Joining Davis on the offensive line were Chris Price of Western Kentucky, Charles Clarke of Georgia Southern, Dylan McFarland of Montana and Dwight Beard of William & amp; Mary.
Northern Iowa's MacKenzie Hoambrecker, who led the nation in field goals (25-of-28), was chosen as the kicker, and Delaware State's DaShaun Morris was the all-purpose player.
Morris averaged 28.3 yards per kick return, taking three for touchdowns. He also caught 34 passes for 564 yards and five scores.
Alabama A & amp;M's Robert Mathis led the defense. The end set an I-AA sack record with 20, and forced 10 fumbles. The other linemen were Josh Jeffries of Appalachian State and Freddy Pesqueira of Georgia Southern -- two of three repeaters from last season -- and Roy Locks of Northwestern State.
Linebackers
Joining Ricks and Royal at linebacker were Sherrod Coates of Western Kentucky and Stephen Cooper of Maine, the other two-time All-American.
Rashean Mathis of Bethune-Cookman, who led the nation with 14 interceptions, Mark Kasmer of Dayton and Trey Young of Montana were the other defensive backs.
Mike Scifres of Western Illinois was the punter. During the regular season, he averaged 48.7 yards per punt, with an average above 50 in six of the team's games.
There were 21 senior and five juniors on the team. The Gateway, Ohio Valley and Southland conferences led the way with four players each.