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Kerwin Bell and UWG Head Coach David DeanRogan WellsJ.T. Hassell was named Defensive Player of the year.
From the GSC release:
Wells earns All-GSC honors and the league's top offensive award as just a sophomore after throwing for 2,219 yards with a league-best 28 passing touchdowns and leading the Blazers to a perfect 10-0 regular season mark. A dual-threat quarterback, Wells rushed for 546 yards with a team-leading nine rushing touchdowns on the season. He is the first Blazer to be named GSC Offensive Player of the Year since Gerald Ford in 2012.
Hassell is now a two-time All-GSC selection after leading the Florida Tech defense to the Panthers' second NCAA Division II postseason berth in program history. Hassell is the top tackler the conference with 105 stops, including 69 solo tackles and 15 tackles for a loss of yards. He also forced three fumbles on the year, putting him in a four-way tie for the league lead in that category. He is the second Panther in program history to win this award (J.J. Sanders, 2015).
Tigers on the road to Bowie State
This will be the first meeting between these two programs as both return to the SR2 playoff field for the second year in a row. West Alabama will travel to take on the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions up at their place in Maryland.
The Bulldogs opened the season with a loss to FCS Wagner and did have an in-conference slip up against Chowan mid-season. However, they are on a five-game winning streak since then including a win over Fayetteville State in the CIAA title game last week. Their quarterback, Amir Hall, was named CIAA Player of the Year after passing for 3,505 yards and 28 touchdowns with 425 net yards on the ground and five scores. He is going to be a handful for the UWA defense. The Bulldogs have seven different receivers with over 20 catches on the year. Joshua Pryor anchors their defense with 51 total tackles, 19 tackles for loss, and 9.5 sacks.
West Alabama already had two losses by mid-season as, hampered by injuries, the hopes that the 2017 GSC champs would return to the playoffs were looking grim. Yet, the Tigers have worked their way into the second season and are playing much more inspired having added healthy players back to the active roster. It will be senior leaders that need to take control of this game if UWA is to get a road win including Tyler Rogers. With a pair of rushing touchdowns last week against UWF, he became the program's all-time leader in rushing scores (30). Another senior, Terry Samuel, the 2017 Gulf South Conference Defensive Player of Year, has been a defensive standout throughout his career. A finalist for the 2017 Cliff Harris Award, he has 21.5 tackles for loss all-time for the Tigers. The team had 10 All-GSC performers this season.
I feel pretty good about this one but it is the playoffs and Bowie State wants to improve on their postseason effort last season. This is just their fourth home contest of the season. UWA needs to shut down their offense early and keep the crowd out of the game.
My pick: Tigers by 14
Wingate travels to UWG
When the Bulldogs lost a close one earlier in the season to Florida Tech for their third-consecutive defeat, I basically wrote their eulogy. Turns out, the SIAC played themselves out of the postseason and Wingate was the beneficiary of that turn of events. Good for them! They were rewarded with a playoff bid last year after a stellar regular season only to get thumped at home by West Florida on their Cinderella soiree to the title game. This year, they must feel pretty luck to have another shot at getting their second-ever playoff win.
Wingate has a six-game winning streak going and outscored their opponents 240-108 during that time. They are second in the South Atlantic Conference in scoring offense, while also ranking second in the conference in scoring defense and total defense. Freshman running back Nijere Peoples leads the league with 110.4 rushing yards per game along with 13 rushing touchdowns. Senior Cardell RawlingsDevontae JacksonMontrell Pardue. The senior leads the team with 75 total tackles along with contributing six tackles for loss, six pass breakups, and seven pass deflections.
In this matchup, I want to see how the Wolves open up the game. Will Willie CandlerMy pick: Wolves by 10
Panthers head up to North CarolinaAmeen Stevens 600 yards and nine touchdowns. He is one of seven Bears with more two or more rushing touchdowns.
Remember here that FIT has only had football for six seasons now and this is their second playoff appearance. Pretty impressive. The Panthers have used a nice balance of offense and defense this season to get some good wins, including at Wingate. Florida Tech is looking for their first-ever postseason win and will be looking for strong performance from their senior leaders including wide receiver Romell Guerrier, who leads the conference in five receiving categories this year, including most receptions (56), yards (946), touchdowns (12), yards per game (86.0), and receptions per game (5.1). Yet, it will be the defense that needs to step up big in this one and that duty will likely rest with the senior duo of J.T. Hassell and Adonis DavisMy pick: Panthers by 3
Andy Davis has followed GSC sports since 1985 and proudly covered the conference for D2Football.com since 2014. He is a past contributor to the D2 Football Preview, TimesDaily, and Franklin County Times as well as having appeared on ESPN Pensacola radio. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
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