Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Warriors tie record with five football Academic All-MAC selections

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – With five selections to the Academic All-Middle Atlantic Conference team, the Lycoming College football team tied its program record, the conference office in Annville, Pa., announced on Wednesday, Jan. 24. All five – sophomore Cody Botts (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg Area), senior Sam Dressler (Riverdale, Pa./Danville), junior Brad Stubbs (Clearfield, Pa./Curwensville Area), senior Erik Wagner (Warriors Mark, Pa./Tyrone Area) and senior Mike Ward (Edgewater, Md./South River) – are first-time selections.


Stepping onto the varsity team and into the starting lineup as a left tackle for the Warriors, Botts helped the team to a one-win improvement over the 2016 season. He helped the team rush for 100 yards five times and pass for 200 four times, including one 300-yard game. A two-time member of the MAC Academic Honor Roll and a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, Botts is a history major.

Dressler finished ninth in the MAC with 466 rushing yards, fifth with four rushing touchdowns and seventh with 113 attempts. He had three 20-yard plus plays, posting a season-long 36-yard touchdown rush against Misericordia. He rushed for more than 50 yards five times, including a season-high 88 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown against Misericordia. A three-time member of the MAC Academic Honor Roll, Dressler is a biology major.

Stubbs started all 10 games at center for the second straight year, jumping from second team all-conference to first team. He guided a young line that featured three new starters, helping the team average 24.6 points and 308.4 yards of total offense per game. The criminal justice major earned his first Academic Honor Roll honors this fall.
Wagner, who was also named a First Team CoSIDA Academic All-American and Academic All-District selection, served as a team captain and two-year starter for the Warriors at tight end. This season, he notched a career-high eight receptions for 42 yards and he was also the team's top special teams' tackler, with six stops. The biology major finished second on team with nine special teams tackles in 2016.

Ward, a criminal justice major, finished his career with the Warriors as one of the top defensive players in program history, finishing sixth in school history with 263 career tackles and led the team in tackles for a third straight year. He posted a career-high 88 tackles as a senior, notching three interceptions and six pass breakups, also forcing and recovering a fumble.

Lycoming also had five selections to the Academic All-MAC Team in 2013, the first year that the award was given.

The Warriors finished 4-6 overall and 4-5 in the MAC, tying for sixth, under 10th-year head coach Mike Clark.