John Carroll's Drew Nystrom named OAC Co-Coach of the Year; 15 JCU players on All-OAC team
Nov. 21—Drew Nystrom has a nice honor to add to his resume when and if he lands an interview for John Carroll's open head football coach job.
On Nov. 21, Nystrom — who served as the Blue Streaks' interim head football coach this fall — was named Ohio Athletic Conference Co-Coach of the Year, sharing the Larry Kehres Award with Mount Union's Geoff Dartt.
Nystrom led JCU to an 8-2 regular-season mark, and a 8-1 finish in the OAC, which was second in the conference.
JCU's Jack Faron shared the Ken Wable Award as the OAC's top offensive lineman, and 15 Blue Streaks players made All-OAC.
Tight end Tadas Tatarunas of Mentor was one of eight players who earned first-team All-OAC honors. Tatarunas had 29 catches for 354 yards and six touchdowns.
Also on the first team for JCU were wide receiver Brennan Fugh (44-746-6), center Matt Wrather, Faron, offensive lineman Luke Gibbons, defensive end Bricker Thiel, linebacker Jahiem Peake and punter Grant Gonya, who averaged 46.5 yards per attempt.
All-OAC second-team picks were quarterback Joe Collins (2,286 yards, 26 TD passes), running back Evan McVay, place kicker Yanni Volas, defensive lineman Nick Costanzo and defensive back Kiefer Askew.
Honorable mention picks were wide receiver Joey Torok (Kirtland) and safety JonMarcus Roland.
Baldwin Wallace defensive lineman Jordan Smith of Riverside was a second-team pick.
Other recent all-conference honors involving area teams:
—Notre Dame College had 18 players named All-Mountain East Conference, including linebacker Nate Moore — who was the MEC Defensive Player of the Year after making 109 stops.
Seven Falcons players made the first team, including offensive linemen Nick Beans and Carson Heidecker and defensive back Antoine Holloway. QB Chris Brimm was an honorable mention selection.
—Case Western Reserve had 10 players on the All-Presidents' Athletic Conference team, including record-setting QB Drew Saxton — the first Case player to earn All-PAC first-team honors four times.
Linebacker Marco Toth of Mentor was one of five on the second team. Safety D.J. Wolf of Mentor was an honorable mention pick.
—Lake Erie College had eight players earn All-Great Midwest Athletic Conference honors — including first-team pick Peyton Brown, who had 65 receptions for 1,079 yards and nine TDs.
QB Gerald Gardner (3,091 yards, 22 TD passes) and wide receiver Nate Dantley were second-team selections.
