Swallow has mark in sights

WASHINGTON, Pa. — Senior quarterback Bobby Swallow of the Washington & Jefferson College football team is a very accurate passer.

In fact, when the ball spirals from his hand, it usually finds the arms of his receivers and rarely the arms of defensive backs.

As a result, Swallow (6-3, 210), a West Branch High graduate from Salem, has an excellent chance of breaking the NCAA Division III record for throwing the fewest interceptions percentage-wise for a career.

He has thrown only 14 interceptions in 885 attempts during his career for a 1.6 percentage.

That puts him 0.1 of a percentage point ahead of record-holder Bill Borchert (1994-97) of Mount Union, who was intercepted only 17 times in 1,009 career attempts for 1.7 percent.

Swallow has thrown only four interceptions this year.

If he can avoid or limit them in the final two regular-season games (against Bethany Saturday and Waynesburg on Nov. 15) and in any playoff games, he will become the most accurate career passer in the NCAA Div. III history.

Not only is Swallow rarely intercepted, he also has completed a school-record 68.4 percent of his career passes on 605-for-885 for 7,726 yards, including 66 percent so far this year on 203-for-306 for 2,514 yards, to lead W&J (7-1, 3-1 Presidents’ Athletic Conference for second place).

Has 92 TD passes, ranks No. 20 in NCAA

Swallow’s accuracy also has resulted in a lot of touchdown passes — 92 for his career including 25 this season.

In fact, in W&J’s 35-29 loss to Thomas More last Saturday, Swallow threw four TD passes to give him 92 for his career which moved him into a tie for No. 20 in NCAA Div. III history.

And if Swallow can throw eight more TD passes this season, he will become only the 17th player in NCAA Div. III history to reach 100 or more.

Swallow has been able to maintain his accuracy despite the large number of passes he throws.

For example, against Thomas More, he set school records for completions (40) and attempts (58), while passing for 361 yards and four TDs.

For his performance, he was named the PAC Offensive Player of the Week last Monday for the second time this season.

Swallow holds three other school records: single-season completion percentage (69.4 in 2006) and TD passes (46 in 2007), and single-game TDs (six, three times).

Fahey helps the defense; Coach Sirianni is 57-9

Swallow is among nine area players on the W&J team, including senior linebacker John Fahey from Boardman High.

Fahey has played in seven games and is the team’s eighth-leading tackler with 20 total tackles, including 13 solo stops and 12 assists.

He also has 5.5 tackles for losses of 30 yards and has broken up two passes.

Freshman defensive back Neil Sorice (Canfield) has played in five games and has five total tackles on four solo stops and two assists with one sack for 13 yards lost.

Also on the team are: senior Josh Linton (DB-RB), New Castle Laurel; junior MIke Wamsley (DL, East Liverpool); sophomores Mark Pleiss (OL, Warren JFK) and Nick Puckett (RB, Southern Local), redshirt freshman Joe Winters (RB, Columbiana); and freshmen Steve McNeely (QB, West Branch).

W&J is coached by Mike Sirianni, a former Mount Union wide receiver and assistant coach, who has a 57-9 record to date and has guided the Presidents to five consecutive postseason appearances. He ranks No. 2 in career coaching wins at the school.

Last year, Sirianni led W&J to its ninth undefeated regular season, including the second perfect season under him, and won his third PAC Coach of the Year award.

XJohn Kovach writes about college athletes for The Vindicator. Write him at kovach@vindy.com.