Saturday, January 28, 2017

Three Warriors earn Academic All-MAC accolades

Blake Bowman, Bailey Hughes and Austin Mital earned Academic All-MAC honors.
(Photo Courtesy of Lycoming Sports Information)
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Lycoming College seniors Blake Bowman (Valley View, Pa./Tri-Valley), Bailey Hughes (Forest City, Pa./Carbondale) and Austin Mital (Ginter, Pa./Moshannon Valley) each earned a slot on the Academic All-MAC football team, the conference office in Annville, Pa., announced on Monday, Jan. 23.


Bowman, a history major, led the Middle Atlantic Conference in rushing yards for the second year in a row, averaging 93.6 yards per game, while his 12 rushing touchdowns also led the league for a second straight year. He finished second in the league with an average of 113.5 all-purpose yards. He finished his career second in school history with 31 rushing yards, fifth with 2,516 rushing yards and third with an average of 5.16 yards per rush. In two years as a starter, Bowman earned two All-MAC honors and two MAC Offensive Player of the Week awards to go with CoSIDA Academic All-District Team accolades.

Hughes, a left tackle for the Warriors started all 10 games on the line, earning Second Team All-MAC honors as an accounting major. Hughes was the team’s iron man on the line, starting 30 straight games at left tackle. As a senior, he started all 10 games as a senior, helping the Warriors average 333.2 yards of total offense per game, including 147.4 rushing yards per game. He earned three MAC Academic Honor Roll accolades.

Mital, a physics major, earned Second Team Academic All-American accolades and picked up Academic All-MAC honors for the second time in his career. The team's left guard and captain, he earned Honorable Mention All-MAC honors as a senior. Mital was the team's candidate for the National Football Foundation's National Scholar-Athlete Award. He stepped full-time into the starting lineup as a junior after being hindered by injuries as a sophomore. The healthy 6-3, 290-pounder developed into a Second Team All-MAC selection while helping the offense roll up 1,825 rushing yards, the fifth-highest total in school history. Mital is a three-time member of the MAC Academic Honor Roll.

The Academic All-MAC teams recognize the top student-athletes in each sport, as it equally weighs academic success (with a minimum GPA of 3.2 required in the fall 2015 semester) and academic success. The MAC sports information directors nominate and vote for the Academic All-MAC teams.

The Warriors finished the season 3-7 overall and 2-7 in the MAC under ninth-year head coach Mike Clark.