Dec. 16, 2009

Center Valley, Pa. - The 2009 Patriot League Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year were two of four selections from the League to the Associated Press Football Championship Subdivision All-America team, announced on Wednesday. Holy Cross senior quarterback Dominic Randolph and Lehigh senior linebacker Matt Cohen were each named to the second team, while Fordham senior wide receiver Jason Caldwell and Lehigh junior offensive lineman Will Rackley were third-team selections.

The four selections were the most for the Patriot League since five players were named to the team in 2004.

Randolph was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year for the third straight season, and has since been selected as the ECAC Player of the Year and winner of the 2009 Harry Agganis Award, presented to the most outstanding senior football player in New England. Randolph also placed fifth in the voting for the Walter Payton Award, given to the Most Outstanding Player in the FCS. He was named an ECAC All-Star in addition to the Player of the Year award earlier on Wednesday.

He is Holy Cross' first AP All-America pick since Tom Claro was selected in 1995, and the first Patriot League quarterback named to the team since Colgate's Dave Goodwin was honored on the third team in 1990.

Randolph completed 310-of-485 passes this year for 3,776 yards and 34 touchdowns, and also ran for seven touchdowns. Randolph set a Patriot League single-season record with 4,256 yards of total offense, also running for 480 yards. He tied the Patriot League single-season record for touchdown passes, and set the mark for touchdowns responsible for with 41. Randolph led the nation in total offense, while standing second in points responsible for, third in completions, fourth in passing yards and 13th in pass efficiency.

Randolph departs Holy Cross as the most decorated quarterback in Patriot League history, and one of the top signal-callers statistically in FCS annals. He set FCS records with 1,131 career completions and 1,786 attempts, and moved into third all-time with 13,455 passing yards. Randolph also closes his career with 14,230 career yards of total offense and 117 passing touchdowns, both in the top five in FCS history. In addition to those marks, Randolph tied the FCS record of 41 career 200-yard passing games and finishes with subdivision records of 42 consecutive games with a touchdown pass and 41 straight 200-yard passing games. He holds nearly every major passing record in the Patriot League.

Lehigh has its first AP All-America selections since 2004, when the Mountain Hawks also garnered multiple picks with Tom Alfsen and Adam Bergen named to the team. That was the last time any Patriot League team had multiple AP All-America players. Cohen has his third major honor in as many days, as he was named as a Walter Camp All-American on Monday and ECAC All-Star on Wednesday. He earned Defensive Player of the Year honors after leading the Patriot League with nine sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss while recording 63 tackles overall. Rackley has established himself as the top returning offensive lineman in the Patriot League and one of the best in the country as the junior has received First-Team All-Patriot League honors for the past two seasons.

Caldwell was also named an ECAC All-Star earlier in the day, and becomes Fordham's first AP All-American since Ben Dato in 2007. Caldwell concluded the 2009 season with 79 receptions for 1,252 yards and nine touchdowns. He ranked third nationally in receiving yards per game, and 10th in receptions per game.

Seventy-five players were named to the first, second and third-team AP FCS All-America lists.

In addition to Randolph, Cohen and Caldwell, receiving ECAC All-Star nods earlier in the day were: Holy Cross senior offensive lineman Chris Poole and senior defensive back Michael Wright, Lehigh senior defensive lineman B.J. Benning, Fordham senior offensive lineman Andrew Tyshovnytsky, and Lafayette senior offensive lineman Ryan Hart-Predmore.