FOREST, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Football Team has seen 12 of its players named to the All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference Teams, ODAC officials announced Tuesday. It is the second year in a row that the Wasps have had a dozen players honored by the league.

Named to the first team was junior offensive lineman McFarland Murph (West Columbia, S.C.), junior corner Tre'von Lightfoot (Big Island, Va.) and freshman placekicker Skyler Simcox (Abingdon, Va.).

Murph earned an 86% grade-out for his efforts at right guard as the Wasps averaged 440 yards of total offense per game. Lightfoot earns All-ODAC accolades for a second year in a row, being named to the third team last year. He finished tied for ninth in Division III in passes defended with 17 breaking up 13 and picking off four. Lightfoot was named the ODAC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 4. Simcox led Emory & Henry in scoring with 65 points and finished third in the ODAC among kickers. He converted nine of 11 field goals, hitting a pair of 48-yarders against East Tennessee State, to take ODAC Offensive Player of the Week honors in Week 4.

Emory & Henry saw four played selected to the all-league second team in redshirt freshman wide receiver Tyree Ward (Statesville, N.C.), senior defensive tackle Victor Montalbano (Evington, Va.), senior linebacker Rennel Marshall (Rustburg, Va.) and senior strong safety Ryan Byrd (Grottoes, Va.).

Ward led the Wasps with 10 touchdowns and caught 36 passes for 647 yards, an average of 18.0 yards per catch, all team-highs. He had three multi-score games including a three touchdown outing against Bridgewater where he caught nine passes for 157 yards. Montalbano led E&H's defensive linemen with 31 tackles, adding a sack and four tackles for loss. He was a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the line, providing the linebackers with the opportunity to make plays resulting in little or no gain for opposing offenses. Marshall, a two-time all-league second-teamer, finished second on the team with 66 tackles, added five tackles for loss, forced and recovered a fumble, and picked off a pass. He had three games on the year where he totaled 10 or more stops. Byrd, who was on the All-ODAC Third Team in 2013 as a cornerback, moved to safety this year and led the squad with 96 stops. He had six games with 10 or more tackles and finished with seven tackles for loss, five pass breakups and an interception.

Five Wasps picked up All-ODAC Third Team honors. Sophomore running back Chris Thompson (Blue Ridge, Va.), senior tackle Paul Cozens (Richmond, Va.) and sophomore tackle Grayson Williams (Martin, Ga.) represented the offense while sophomore defensive tackle Tyler Rose (Newport News, Va.) and junior linebacker Rasheen Williams (Charlotte, N.C.) were selected from the defense.

Thompson was the team's top rusher with 579 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 5.4 yards per carry to pick up his second All-ODAC nod in two years. Cozens and Williams join Murph on the all-league team as Emory & Henry allowed a league-fewest 11 sacks on the year, which came on just 2.8 percent of its passing attempts.  The Wasps had three games of rushing for over 240 yards including a 301-yard afternoon against Shenandoah which was the biggest outpouring of rushing yards since 2009, and 631 yards of total offense, the most since 1987.

Rose finished the season with 27 stops, three sacks, 5.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. He had a season-best seven stops against Catholic, including three solo stops and a tackle for a loss of four yards. Williams was third on the squad in total tackles from his linebacker position with 62, added two sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble, a blocked kick and an interception. It was Williams' first year in the Wasps' corps of linebackers, moving from tight end a year ago.

Emory & Henry, which finished with a 6-4 overall record and a 4-3 mark in ODAC play this year, ended the season in a tie for third place in the league standings. Over the past two seasons, the Wasps are 14-6 (9-5 ODAC) including a 27-24 win over FCS newcomer East Tennessee State.

E&H will now await the release of the several all-state, all-region and All-America teams which coincide with the completion of the college football season.

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-photo courtesy of Dave Grace 

2015 ALL-ODAC FOOTBALL AWARDS 

J. Stokeley Fulton Offensive Player of the Year: Matt Pawlowski, Sr., QB, Guilford
Lou Wacker Defensive Player of the Year: Jake Payne, Sr., DL, Shenandoah
ODAC Coach of the Year: Scott Abell, Washington and Lee
ODAC Rookie of the Year: Kyree Koonce, Fr., RB, Hampden-Sydney
ODAC/Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Scholar-Athlete: Sean Douglass, Sr., OL, Bridgewater