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Six Special Award Winners; 19 Raiders on All-OAC Teams
ALLIANCE -- The University of Mount Union football team has six special award winners and placed 19 on the All-Ohio Athletic Conference team announced Monday.
Mount Union junior quarterback Braxton Plunk, senior center John Valentine, senior receiver Wayne Ruby, junior linebacker Mason McMillen, senior defensive back Malik Britt and defensive coordinator Daryl Ely all earned special awards.
Fourth-ranked Mount Union (11-0) will host 16th-ranked Johns Hopkins (10-1) in the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs at noon Saturday.
Plunk was named the Bob Packard Offensive Back of the Year for the second straight year as he led the conference with 319.5 passing yards per game. He completed 73.4 percent of his passes for 3,195 yards with 31 touchdowns during a 10-0 regular season. It is the fifth straight year and 24th time a Mount Union quarterback or running back has won the award.
Valentine was named Ken Wable Offensive Lineman of the Year and has started every game this season at center for an offensive line that has led the nation in fewest tackles for loss allowed for an offense ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division III.
Ruby was named Ed Sherman Receiver of the Year Award and had an OAC-best 75 receptions for 1,008 yards with eight touchdowns.
Britt is the Lee Tressel Defensive Back of the Year as he led the conference with four interceptions to go along with 38 tackles and three pass breakups
McMillen is the Gene Slaughter Linebacker of the Year and leads the Raiders in tackles and had a career-high 16 stops at Heidelberg.
Ely is the OAC Assistant Coach of the Year. He has been a part of the coaching staff since 2009 and is in his second year as defensive coordinator. He played defensive back for the Raiders and was a two-time All-American and captain of the 2008 national championship team.
Along with these players, the other Mount Union first-team selections include junior offensive lineman Carson Barrett, senior running back Josh Petruccelli, junior defensive lineman Duke Hill, senior linebacker Kordell Ford and senior defensive back Jesse Vail.
All-OAC second-team selections include senior wide receivers Derrick Harvey Jr. and Jaden Manley, junior running back DeAndre Parker, senior defensive linemen Eli Beers and Matt Lilja, linebacker Carson Kovath along with senior special teams returner KJ Redmon.
Two other Raiders earned honorable mention honors -- senior offensive lineman Jonathan Bisono and junior defensive back Josh Jones.