Kehres III’s king 12th time

Larry Kehres, Mount Union College’s successful football coach from nearby Diamond, has set a record for being named American Football Coaches Association NCAA Division III Region Four District/Regional Coach of the Year.

Kehres, whose undefeated and defending national champions (13-0) from Alliance will play host to Bethel University (12-1) of St. Paul, Minn., today at noon in Mount Union Stadium in an NCAA Division III semifinal game, has won the AFCA coaching honor for the 12th time — the most for any coach at any NCAA division level.

Under Kehres, Mount Union has won nine NCAA Div. III national championships in the past 14 seasons, and a record 18 Ohio Athletic Conference titles including this year.

In his 22nd season as Mount Union’s coach, Kehres has built one of the most successful programs in all of college football by compiling a 259-20-3 record (.923).

Today’s game will mark the Purple Raiders’ 13th consecutive trip to the semifinals, which they earned by rolling past St. John Fisher, 52-10, last Saturday in a quarterfinal before 2,678 fans at Mount Union Stadium.

A win today will vault Mount Union into Stagg Bowl XXXV next Saturday at Salem Stadium in Salem, Va.

B-W’s Davis wins ESPN
district academic honors

Brittan Davis, a senior defender on the Baldwin Wallace College women’s soccer team this past season, was named to the 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV second team.

The Poland High grad, who played in 19 games and started 17 of them, achieved a 3.6 grade-point average in psychology.

She was one of six area players on the B-W team (11-6-3 record, 5-1-3 OAC), including senior forward Whitney Zunic (Canfield) who played in 20 games, starting 17, and scored two goals for four points.

The others are Natalie Fox, a sophomore forward from Canfield; Tyler Fridley, a sophomore midfielder from Niles; Vickie Dreiling, a freshman forward and midfielder from Cardinal Mooney; and Amanda Vitello, a freshman midfielder from Mooney.

Bodrick off to strong
start at Thiel College

Amber Bodrick, a 5-9 junior guard-forward for the Thiel College women’s basketball team from Cardinal Mooney High, is off to a great start this season.

Through six games (3-3 record, 1-1 Presidents Athletic Conference), Bodrick leads the Tomcats from Greenville in scoring (22.7), rebounding (10.2) and assists (2.3) averages and total blocks (11), and also has eight steals.

She was named PAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week Monday by the conference office, after helping Thiel to a 2-0 record the previous week by averaging 29.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.5 blocks and 2.0 steals for both wins.

Bodrick scored a season-high 34 points in the win against Waynesburg on Saturday, and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds in the victory over Hiram Wednesday, finishing the week shooting 53 percent from the field.

Joining Bodrick on the Thiel team are Kim Stitt, a 5-11 freshman forward from Hickory High, and Tressa Scahill, a 5-4 freshman guard from Hubbard High.

Stitt is averaging 8.3 points and 6.5 rebounds, and was shooting 55.6 percent from the field on 20-for-36.

Scahill is averaging 2.8 points.

Jones, Graf star at
Marietta, Ohio Wesleyan

Ian Jones, freshman midfielder for the Marietta College soccer team this past season from Howland High, ranked No. 5 on the team in scoring with eight points on three goals and two assists.

Jones, who played in 15 games and started nine of them, was joined by two other area players on the team — sophomore A.J. Pulice (Hubbard) and freshman Brad Hrinko (Austintown Fitch).

Marietta posted an 8-8-2 record, including 4-4-1 in the OAC. The Pioneers won their final three OAC games to earn only their second OAC Tournament berth in school history.

At Ohio Wesleyan, Steffi Graf, senior wing for the Battling Bishops’ women’s basketball team from Poland High, was selected to the all-tournament team in the Damon ‘s Wilmington Inn Tip-Off Tournament.

Graf had 15 points, six rebounds and three steals to lead the Battling Bishops to a 72-53 win over Dubuque for consolation honors.

Through six games (4-2, 1-0 NCAC), Graf leads Ohio Wesleyan in steals (13) and ranks third in scoring average (8.5) and is tied for third in assists (10). She also averages 3,2 rebounds and has made 14-for-15 (93.3) from the foul line.

XJohn Kovach is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write to him at kovach@vindy.com.