DePauw places three on all-NCAC football honor squad

CLEVELAND — Wooster senior quarterback Gary Muntean, Wittenberg senior defensive lineman Chandler Ferko and Oberlin freshman punter Bryant Walker have been named the Players of the Year to highlight the 2017 All-North Coast Athletic Conference football selections.

DePauw placed three players on the all-conference team. Senior Jeremy Trudell was honored as an offensive lineman, while junior Ashaun Miller was chosen as a defensive lineman and junior Andy Hunt was named the first-team return specialist.

Muntean is the first Wooster player to earn the Mike Gregory Award as the NCAC’s Offensive Player of the Year since former great Tony Sutton won the award in back-to-back years in 2003 and ‘04.

Ferko makes it back-to-back years that a Wittenberg Tiger has claimed the Hank Critchfield Award as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year after Dustin Holmes collected the hardware in 2016.

Finally, Walker is the recipient of the NCAC’s Special Teams Player of the Year award after emerging as one of the top punters in the league during his freshman campaign.

Muntean, who elevated to the first team from the 2016 honorable mention squad, re-wrote the Wooster record book this season en route to leading the Scots to their first winning season since 2013.

The Scots’ signal caller led the NCAC in nearly every passing category this season, completing 219-of-336 pass attempts for 3,159 yards and 33 touchdowns. Through the 10 regular season games, he also ranked in the top-10 nationally in four different categories, sitting sixth in TD passes (33), ninth in passing yards (3,159) and 10th in both passing efficiency (172.4) and passing yards per game (315.9).

Wittenberg head coach Joe Fincham was named the NCAC Football Coach of the Year for the 10th time in his career after he guided the Tigers to a perfect 10-0 record during the regular season for the sixth time in his career. After winning the NCAC title for the 15th time in program history, Fincham will now lead the Tigers into the 2017 NCAA Football Championships where they will host Frostburg State in the opening round this Saturday.