FOOTBALL
READING, Pa. – Redshirt senior Tanner Kelly of Olanta received another prestigious honor in recognition of his tremendous fourth season as Albright quarterback last week when the Eastern College Athletic Conference named him the 2009 ECAC Division III Southeast Football Player of the Year.
Previously, the former Clearfield Area High School football and basketball standout was chosen D3Football.com East Region Offensive Player of the Year as well as Middle Atlantic Conference Offensive Player of the Year for the second time in three seasons.
The 6-3, 215-pounder finished fifth in interception percentage (1.39), eighth in completion percentage (67.97) and 12th in passing efficiency (155.38) in final NCAA Division III statistics after being ranked in the top 10 in those categories all season.
He didn\’t suffer his first interception until the Lions\’ eighth game and was picked off only five times in 359 attempts.
Kelly, whose completion percentage is the new Albright standard, connected on 244 aerials for a career-high 3,030 yards, the 15th highest total for D-III quarterbacks, and 21 touchdowns. He also passed for five two-point conversions.
In addition, Kelly rushed for 337 yards and six touchdowns and punted 35 times for a 33.4-yard average.
His passing TDs were 42nd highest among the nation\’s top 100 passers, while his 254 average for 3,367 total offense yards was good for 47th place and his 12.42 yards per completion ranked 53rd.
He was tied for 64th in total points responsible for with an average of 14 a game.
Kelly will pick up his ECAC award in February along with at the annual Eastern College Football Awards Banquet, presented by FieldTurf in the Pegasus Restaurant at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J.
Joining him on the ECAC Southeast All-Star Team were teammates Nate Romig and John Whelan.
Romig, a senior wide receiver accorded D3Football.com All-American third-team honors last week, was Kelly\’s favorite target, pulling in 91 passes for 1,341 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Whelan, a junior placekicker, accounted for 64 points with nine field goals, the longest a 45-yarder, and 37 extra points.
Albright finished 11-2 and was rewarded for one of the greatest seasons in program history by being ranked No. 9 in the final American Football Coaches Association Division III Poll and No. 15 in the D3Football.com Top 25 Poll, the highest any Lion squad has ever been ranked in both polls.
The Lions, who won their first eight games before being denied the MAC championship because of a 45-16 loss at Delaware Valley, upset Empire 8 Conference co-champ Alfred (N.Y.) 35-25 and gained revenge against Delaware Valley 27-3 in the NCAA Division III Tournament to reach the quarterfinals.
However, perennial power Mount Union (Ohio) lived up to its No. 1 ranking and ended Albright\’s season 55-3 en route to another title game appearance against Wisconsin-Whitewater, which won 38-28.
It also was announced last week that Kelly was one of Albright gridders to qualify for the Middle Atlantic Conferences Fall Academic Honor Roll, comprised of senior, junior and sophomore student-athletes who participate in a varsity-level sport and register and cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher.
Kelly\’s GPA in secondary education was 3.34 for the fall semester.
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WRESTLING
RENO, Nev. – Penn State redshirt junior Brad Pataky of Clearfield was seeded second at 125 pounds for the 15th Reno Tournament of Champions in the Reno Event Center Sunday, but the Nittany Lion bantam lost two close decisions to Top 10 opponents and finished fifth.
Pataky, ranked No. 6 by Amateur Wrestling News, No. 10 by InterMat.com and No. 13 by Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine, repeated a Nittany Lion Open victory over Navy\’s Allen Stein 6-1 and pinned Stanford\’s Ryan Mango at 6:28 for a berth in the semifinals.
Edinboro junior Eric Morrill, ranked No. 7 and the No. 3 seed, avenged a 4-0 dual-meet defeat by Pataky with a hard-fought 10-8 decision. Pataky just missed tying the match when he executed a late cement mixer against the three-time New Hampshire state champion, but he was not awarded a takedown.
Morrill went on to knockoff No. 3-ranked and No. 1 seed Anthony Nobles of Arizona State 4-3 in the finals.
In the consolation semifinals, Pataky was edged 4-3 by Wyoming redshirt sophomore Michael Martinez. The Cowboy, a two-time Colorado state champ, carried a No. 8 ranking into the tourney as the fourth seed and placed fourth.
Pataky squeezed out a 3-2 win over sixth seed and No. 15-ranked Alan Bartelli of Boise State in the fifth-place match for a 13-4 record. Bartelli\’s schoolboy credentials included three Alaska state titles.
Penn State had two champs, No. 6-ranked Frank Molinaro (17-0) at 149 and No. 3-ranked Cyler Sanderson (15-1) at 157, and finished third in the 25-team event with 83 points.
Edinboro edged out No. 14-ranked Penn State for second place by two-and-a-half points, thanks to defending NCAA champ Jarod King\’s 2-1 squeaker over Nittany Lion Dan Vallimont in the 157-pound championship bout.
Led by five champs, Oklahoma State amassed 154 points to easily win the team title.
