Nov. 24, 2009

Center Valley, Pa. - After an outstanding career that netted multiple Patriot League and Football Championship Subdivision records, Holy Cross senior quarterback Dominic Randolph added another accomplishment to his outstanding resume by becoming the first Patriot League player to earn three consecutive Offensive Player of the Year awards, it was announced on Tuesday along with all of the 2009 All-Patriot League Football team and major awards. The awards and All-League team were voted on by the Patriot League's seven head coaches, who could not vote for their own players.

2009 All-Patriot League Team and Major Awards

Randolph is just the third player to earn three Offensive Player or Player of the Year honors in Patriot League history. Lafayette running back Erik Marsh was named Offensive Player of the Year in 1992 and 1993 and Co-Player of the Year in 1994, while Colgate quarterback Ryan Vena earned Player of the Year honors in 1996, 1997 and 1999. The Player of the Year award was given out from 1986-2000.

Randolph's coach, Tom Gilmore, joined him as a major award winner as he claimed his second Coach of the Year honor after leading the Crusaders to the Patriot League title. Gilmore previously won the award in 2006. Lehigh senior linebacker Matt Cohen was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first recipient of the award for the Mountain Hawks since Abdul Byron in 2001. Colgate freshman defensive back Demitri Diamond was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Diamond is just the second defensive player in the 24-year history of the Patriot League to claim the award, and is Colgate's second straight choice and third in the past five seasons.

Patriot League champion Holy Cross led all schools with 15 overall and seven First-Team All-Patriot League selections. Lafayette, Lehigh and Colgate all finished in a tie for second place in the Patriot League, and each notched five First-Team All-Patriot League selections. Lafayette led the group with 13 overall selections, while Lehigh had 10 and Colgate notched eight. Fordham also recorded eight overall All-Patriot League picks, with four on the first team. Half of Bucknell's four selections were on the first team, while Georgetown had the remaining All-League spot.

Randolph will exit Worcester after the postseason as one of the most decorated players in Patriot League and FCS history. He already holds four FCS career records, with active marks of 41 consecutive games with a touchdown pass and 40 straight with at least 200 yards passing going into Saturday's first-round playoff game at Villanova. He is also the all-time FCS attempts leader with 1,735, and earlier this year he matched an FCS record by notching 13 consecutive games with 300 yards of total offense. Randolph is in range of two more FCS marks in Saturday's game. He has 1,100 career completions, 22 shy of the record of 1,122 held by New Hampshire's Ricky Santos (2004-07). He also needs one more 200-yard passing game to tie the record of 41 held by the late Steve McNair (Alcorn State, 1991-94). Randolph is in fourth place in FCS history with 13,108 career passing yards, putting him just 104 behind Santos for third place and 405 away from second-place Bruce Eugene (Grambling State, 2001-05). Randolph also sits in fourth place in FCS annals in career total offense (13,887) and fifth in passing touchdowns (114). He leads the Patriot League in 10 different career categories: completions, attempts, passing yards, passing touchdowns, total offense, touchdowns responsible for (129), 300-yard passing games (23), 400-yard passing games (seven), 400-yard games of total offense (nine) and plays (2,011).

Randolph posted another outstanding season in 2009, leading the Crusaders to the Patriot League title with an overall record of 9-2 and a 5-1 Patriot League mark. He completed 279-of-434 passes (64.3 percent) for 3,429 yards with 31 touchdowns through the air, and also ran for 474 yards and six touchdowns. Randolph led the nation in total offense per game (354.8), was second in points responsible for (20.2) and third in passing yards per game (311.7). He led the Crusaders to a 3-0 record against top 25 opponents, including a 28-26 win over Lafayette on Nov. 14 that clinched Holy Cross' first League title since 1991 and first postseason berth since 1983. Randolph also earns his third consecutive First-Team All-Patriot League selection at the quarterback position. He is a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, given to the Most Outstanding Player in the FCS, for the third straight season.

Cohen becomes Lehigh's first Defensive Player of the Year since 2001, and his selection marks the fifth consecutive year that a linebacker has claimed the honor. He led the Patriot League and was tied for 11th in the nation with nine sacks for the season, and also led the League with 13.5 tackles for loss while recording 63 tackles overall. The nine-sack total is the highest for a Patriot League player since 2004, and Cohen led the League in sacks for the second year in a row. He also paced a Lehigh defense that finished second nationally with 39 sacks for the year. Cohen had two-sack efforts against Fordham and Princeton, and earned a Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week award for recording three sacks and four tackles for loss on Oct. 10 against Georgetown. Cohen also receives his third consecutive All-Patriot League selection, as he was named to the first team for the second straight year after a second-team nod in 2007.

Diamond stepped in as one of Colgate's top defensive players as a freshman, notching 35 tackles, one tackle for loss, an interception and five pass breakups from his defensive back position. He was the fifth-leading tackler on the team, recording 26 solo stops. Diamond is Colgate's sixth all-time Rookie of the Year, and joins Lafayette defensive back Kenya Allen (1998) as the only defensive players to win the award.

Gilmore led Holy Cross to its first Patriot League title since 1991, and first postseason berth since 1983. The Crusaders' 9-2 record was their best mark since an undefeated season in 1991, and the 5-1 Patriot League record matched last season's mark as the best League record since that year. The Crusaders won their sixth Patriot League title, with all of them coming outright. Gilmore has a 39-27 overall record in six seasons at Holy Cross, and a 22-14 Patriot League mark. He has recorded seven wins or more and won at least four Patriot League games in each of the past four seasons. Holy Cross is 30-14 in the last four years, with an 18-6 League record. When Gilmore took over in 2004, the Crusaders were coming off a 1-11 season. He becomes the sixth Patriot League head coach to earn multiple Coach of the Year awards.

Randolph headlines the First-Team All-Patriot League Offense at the quarterback position. He is joined by running backs Nate Eachus (Colgate) and Maurice White (Lafayette), fullback/h-back Anthony Fossati (Lehigh), wide receivers Pat Simonds (Colgate), Jason Caldwell (Fordham) and Mark Layton (Lafayette), tight end Stephen Skelton (Fordham), offensive linemen Ryan Gross (Colgate), Ryan Hart-Predmore (Lafayette), Chris Poole (Holy Cross), Will Rackley (Lehigh) and Andrew Tyshovnytsky (Fordham), return specialist A.J. Kizekai (Bucknell) and placekicker Rob Dornfried (Holy Cross).

On the First-Team Defense, Cohen is one of four linebackers along with Greg Jones (Bucknell), Mark Leggiero (Lafayette) and Marcus Rodriguez (Holy Cross). The defensive line consists of BJ Benning (Lehigh), Ian Dell (Lafayette), Paul Mancuso (Colgate) and Mude Ohimor (Holy Cross), while the defensive backs are Jarard Cribbs (Lehigh), Anthony DiMichele (Holy Cross), Uzi Idah (Colgate) and Michael Wright (Holy Cross). Fordham freshman Patrick Murray is the punter.

The Second-Team All-Patriot League Offense includes: Quarterbacks Rob Curley (Lafayette) and John Skelton (Fordham), running backs Jay Campbell (Lehigh) and Jordan McCord (Colgate), fullback/h-back Jeff Cumming (Lafayette), wide receivers Mitchell Bennett (Lafayette), Freddie Santana (Holy Cross) and Luke Chmielinski (Holy Cross), tight end Alex Schneider (Holy Cross), offensive linemen Ricky Clerge (Lehigh), Aaron Jones (Holy Cross), Mike McCabe (Holy Cross), Chris Smith (Holy Cross) and Mike Wojcik (Lafayette), and return specialist John Kennedy (Lehigh).

Filling out the Second-Team All-Patriot League Defense are defensive linemen Jordan Bledsoe (Fordham), Robert De La Rosa (Bucknell), Austin Douglas (Colgate), Chudi Obianwu (Georgetown) and Andrew Poulson (Lafayette), linebackers Greg Hadley (Colgate), Nick Magiera (Fordham), Michael Schmidlein (Lafayette) and Troy Taylor (Lehigh), defensive backs Kelvin Colbert (Fordham), Brandon Ellis (Lafayette), Alex Johnson (Holy Cross), John Kennedy (Lehigh) and Ahkiel White (Bucknell), and punters Tom Kondash (Lafayette) and Don Lemieux (Holy Cross).

Eachus did not play enough games to qualify for the NCAA or Patriot League statistical leaderboard, but his 114.9 rushing yards per game would have led the League and placed fourth in the country and his 16 rushing touchdowns were one off the national lead despite missing three games. He compiled 919 yards and 16 touchdowns while averaging four yards per carry. White recorded 622 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, while Fossati notched a rushing touchdown against Lafayette. Among the First-Team wide receivers, Simonds caught 66 passes for 1,012 yards and 14 touchdowns, which tied for the second-best single-season mark in League annals. Caldwell ranked third in the country with 113.8 receiving yards per game, finishing the year with 79 receptions for 1,252 yards and nine touchdowns. Layton pulled in 65 receptions for 838 yards and 11 touchdowns, while Stephen Skelton notched 63 catches for 634 yards and six touchdowns at the tight end position. Kizekai returned 28 kickoffs for 618 yards, a 22.1 average, while Dornfried hit 7-of-9 field goals and 36-of-37 extra points for the potent Holy Cross offense.

The First-Team defensive line includes three players who recorded seven sacks or more. Dell comes in with 45 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick in an outstanding season. Benning notched 47 TT, 9 TFL, 7.5 sacks and 1 FR, while Ohimor had 33 TT, 9 TFL, 7 sacks and three pass breakups. Mancuso recorded 30 TT, 5.5 TFL, and 3 sacks. To go along with Cohen at the linebacker spots, Jones had 101 TT, 5 TFL, 3 INT and 3 PBU, Leggiero notched 98 TT, 3.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 1 INT, 1 PBU and 1 FF, and Rodriguez put up 97 TT, 2 TFL, 6 PBU and 1 FF. Among the defensive backs, Cribbs had 45 TT, 2.5 TFL, 2 INT and 9 PBU, DiMichele put up 75 TT, 5 TFL, 1 sack, 2 INT, 5 PBU and 1 FR, and his teammate Wright had 49 TT, 1 TFL, 3 INT and 13 PBU. Idah recorded 67 TT, 6.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 1 INT and 4 PBU. Murray punted 36 times for 1,507 yards (41.9 avg.) in his freshman season

The Second-Team All-Patriot League quarterbacks each had outstanding seasons to cap equally stellar careers. Curley threw for 3,044 yards with 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, completing 68.8 percent of his passes with a passing efficiency rating of 165.2, which ranked third in the FCS. Curley's completion percentage is the second-best single-season mark in Patriot League history. Skelton led the nation with 337.09 passing yards per game, and his 3,709 passing yards are the third-best single-season mark in League history. Skelton completed 64.4 percent of his passes with 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and also had five rushing touchdowns. He ranked second in the nation to Randolph with 348.2 yards of total offense per game.

McCord had 930 rushing yards and five touchdowns for the Raiders, while Campbell notched 659 rushing yards for the Mountain Hawks and Cumming had four total touchdowns for the Leopards. Santana and Chmielinski each had strong seasons for the Crusaders, with the former notching 42 receptions for 575 yards and eight touchdowns and the latter pulling in 56 catches for 722 yards and four scores. Bennett had 40 receptions for 596 yards and four scores, while Schneider recorded 26 catches for 223 yards and four touchdowns from the tight end position. Kennedy returned 31 kickoffs for 774 yards, a 25.0 average, and also brought one back for a touchdown.

The five-member Second-Team All-Patriot League defensive line consists of Bledsoe (39 TT, 9 TFL, 4.5 sacks, 1 PBU), De La Rosa (43 TT, 9.5 TFL, 3 sacks, 2 PBU, 1 FR), Douglas (22 TT, 4.5 TFL, 3 sacks, 1 FF), Obianwu (63 TT, 7 TFL, 3 sacks, 2 FF, 1 FR) and Poulson (47 TT, 8 TFL, 4 sacks, 1 FF, 1 PBU). Schmidlein led the second-team linebackers in tackles with 100, and also notched 7 TFL, 2 sacks, 1 INT, 2 PBU and 1 FF. Hadley recorded 67 TT, 5 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 1 PBU and 1 FR, Magiera had 80 TT, 8 TFL, 2 sacks, 2 PBU, 1 FF and 1 FR, and Taylor put up 69 TT, 8 TFL, 2 sacks, 1 PBU and 1 FF. Colbert led the nation in passes defended, as the Fordham senior had 4 INT and 14 PBU to go along with 32 TT, 2 TFL and 1 sack. The other defensive backs included Ellis (53 TT, 2 INT, 3 PBU, 1 FR), Johnson (50 TT, 1 INT, 5 PBU, 1 FF), Kennedy (34 TT, 1 TFL, 1 INT, 3 PBU, 1 FR) and White (60 TT, 2 TFL, 4 INT, 4 PBU, 1 FF). Kondash punted 40 times for 1,439 yards (36.0 avg.), while Lemieux booted 20 punts for 793 yards (39.7 avg.).

In addition to Randolph and Cohen, Leggiero and Kizekai also added their name to the list of three-time All-Patriot League selections, which now includes 51 players all-time. Leggiero was a second-team choice in 2007 before earning first-team honors in the past two years, while Kizekai actually earns four overall All-Patriot League honors as the first-team return specialist in each of the past three seasons and a second-team running back in 2008. There were 15 players that were named to their second All-Patriot League team. Earning First-Team All-Patriot League honors for the second straight season are Simonds, Rackley, Eachus and Benning. Players that are on the first team in 2009 after receiving second-team honors last year include Hart-Predmore, Poole, Mancuso, Rodriguez, Cribbs and Wright. Aaron Jones is a second-team choice after receiving first-team honors last year, while Douglas and Hadley are on the second team in consecutive seasons. John Skelton and Kennedy are second-team choices for the second time after also earning the spot in 2007. Thirty-nine players were selected to their first All-Patriot League team.

Patriot League champion No. 17/19 Holy Cross moves on to the first round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship on Saturday, where the Crusaders will travel to No. 2 seed Villanova, the champion of the Colonial Athletic Association, at Noon. Holy Cross won the Patriot League with a 5-1 record, followed by Lafayette, Lehigh and Colgate in second place at 4-2, Fordham and Bucknell sharing fifth at 2-4, and Georgetown in sixth at 0-6.

For the full All-Patriot League release, click here