FOREST, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Football Team has seen nine of its players named to the All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference Teams, ODAC officials announced Tuesday. The teams are voted on by the eight head coaches in the league following the completion of the regular season. The Wasps had four players named to the All-ODAC First Team, two to the second team and three who received third-team accolades.

Senior offensive lineman McFarland Murph (West Columbia, S.C.) and senior corner Tre'von Lightfoot (Big Island, Va.) made it back-to-back first-team selections while senior linebacker Rhasheen Williams (Charlotte, N.C.) and sophomore defensive end Da'von Keith (Columbia, S.C.) receive the honor for the first time.

Murph led the offensive line to an average of 463 yards of offense per game including 214 on the ground. Lightfoot becomes a three-time All-ODAC selection, finishing the season with 39 tackles, three interceptions and five pass break-ups. Williams was third on the team in stops with 65, adding 7.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and an interception. Keith led the ODAC in tackles for loss (23) and sacks (12), finishing with 66 total stops, and was named league defensive player of the week for Week Eight.

Emory & Henry saw two offensive plyers selected to the second team in junior offensive lineman Grayson Williams (Martin, Ga.) and sophomore wide receiver Jesse Santiago (Yorktown, Va.).

Williams moves up from last season’s all-league third-team pick as the Wasps once again allowed the fewest sacks in the ODAC (10) which came on just 2.6 percent of their passing attempts. The next-best sack percentage in the league was 6.7 percent by Randolph-Macon. E&H ran for 250 or more yards in five different games and finished third in total offense. Santiago caught 39 passes for a team-high 624 yards and five touchdowns, with a nine-catch, 139-yard game against Hampden-Sydney.

Three more players were recognized with All-ODAC Third Team laurels in senior linebacker Josh Compton (Richlands, Va.), sophomore defensive back Eric Johnson (Roanoke, Va.) and freshman punter Garrett Morgan (Mechanicsville, Va.).

Compton led the Wasps with 69 tackles, making 46 solo stops. He added two interceptions, seven tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks with three games over 10 tackles. Johnson had 42 tackles, a team-high four interceptions and six passes broken up and added five tackles for loss. Morgan averaged 40.2 yards per punt in his rookie year, putting 25 percent (14-of-56) of his kicks inside the 20 with only five touchbacks.

Emory & Henry, which finished with a 6-4 overall record and a 5-2 mark in ODAC play this year, ended the season in a tie for second place in the league standings. The Wasps won their final five games of the year after opening the season 1-4. The five-game conference winning streak is the longest since winning nine in a row between the end of the 1997 season and the middle of the 1999 season. Over the past three seasons, the Wasps are 20-10 (14-7 ODAC).

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