Menu
County natives to play in national championship games
For the second consecutive year, two Putnam County high school graduates will play in the football national championship games of their respective divisions.
In NCAA Division III, the No. 1 Mount Union Raiders and senior linebacker Hank Spencer will take on fourth-ranked St. Thomas in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl this evening in Salem, Va.
In NAIA football action, No. 6 Marian University, led by junior running back Rob Gibson, will do battle with No. 8 Southern Oregon for the title.
Spencer, a 2012 North Putnam graduate, is making his fourth trip to Salem, as the Raiders have appeared in 11 straight Stagg Bowls. Having lost the last two title games to Wisconsin-Whitewater, Mount Union exacted some revenge last week, defeating the Warhawks 36-6 in the semifinals.
The Raiders' last title came in 2012 at the expense of the St. Thomas program they face Friday evening.
Spencer has enjoyed quite the senior campaign for the top-ranked Raiders. He is fourth on the team with 62 tackles this season, including 1.5 sacks and eight tackles for loss. He's also forced a pair of fumbles while recovering one.
For his efforts, he recently won the Gene Slaughter Award as the top linebacker in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
He is also completing his third season as a team captain.
For all his on-field accolades, Spencer is probably more impressive in the classroom.
On Thursday, he won the NCAA Elite 90 award for the third straight season. The Elite 90 award is given to the student-athlete with the top grade point average competing in each NCAA championship event across all sports and divisions.
The computer science major is the owner of a 3.987 GPA. He graduated from high school early four years ago and enrolled at Mount Union in the spring of 2012.
He completed his course work this past week to graduate and begins a job with Vodori, a technology firm in Chicago, after the first of the year.
Spencer was also the only Division III finalist for the Campbell Trophy as a National Football Foundation Scholar Athlete.
The Stagg Bowl kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday with live coverage on ESPNU or online at WatchESPN.
On the opposite side of the ball from Spencer, Gibson has also enjoyed an impressive campaign in 2015. The 2012 South Putnam alum leads the Knights with 1,053 yards on 185 carries and an average of 95.7 yards per game. He is fourth on the team with 10 rushing touchdowns.
Gibson has also hauled in 15 catches for 137 yards.
He and the Knights will have revenge on their minds after a 55-31 loss to Southern Oregon in last year's final.
The game kicks off at 6:04 p.m. Saturday and will be delivered online on ESPN3.