By Anthony Fontana
After completing a 7-3 season and narrowly missing out on the playoffs, 12 Cardinal football players reaped the benefits of having stellar individual seasons by being named to the All-GLIAC TEAM.
Making the 2008 All-GLIAC First Team for the Cards was senior offensive lineman Desi Mayner, junior linebacker John Jacobs, and senior defensive back Matthew Black.
The All-GLIAC Second Team was comprised of three Cardinals. Junior tight end Galen Stone joined senior running back Brandon Emeott and senior defensive lineman Brad Bush.
The Cards managed to place six players on the Honorable Mention Team.
On special teams, senior kicker Jeremy Burr and junior punter Kurtis Fournier were named to the Honorable Mention Team. Offensively, junior offensive lineman Jordan DeRosia and senior wide receiver Carl Grimes were named to the team. On the defensive side of the ball, sophomore linebacker Mike LeVand and junior defensive end Toby Goetz were named to the team.
Head coach Jim Collins, who is in his first year, believes the reason so many individuals had successful seasons was because of the work ethic that each had.
“Jeremy Burr put a lot of hard work into his kicking this year,” Collins said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that he was one of the best kickers in the country during the season. Had we not went for it so many times on fourth down inside our opponents 35-yard line, he would have had more opportunities to kick field goals than he ended up getting.”
Emeott became the first Cardinal running back to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season since the 2005 campaign. He finished the season with 12 rushing touchdowns.
“Brandon had an outstanding season for us,” Collins said. “He really picked up his game in the second half of the season. He has great vision and is able to find the holes that the offensive line opens up for him. He had a great season for us.”
Mayner and DeRosia helped anchor an offensive line that allowed Emeott to top the 1,000-yard mark. They also allowed a league low 10 sacks for the entire season, enabling sophomore quarterback Dan Stiefel to have plenty of time in the pocket to find an open receiver.
Many times, the receiver that Stiefel connected with was Stone, who scored at least one touchdown in seven of the team’s 10 games. Stone finished the season with 47 receptions for 641 yards and eight touchdowns.
“Galen really had a great year for us,” Collins said. “Especially in the second half of the season when we were trying to get into the playoff hunt and we needed a big play, we could always count on Galen. It seemed like the last half of the season he had a big game every single game, which really helped take the pressure off some of the other players.”
Jacobs and Black each had stellar seasons defensively for the Cards. Jacobs led the GLIAC in total tackles with 131 for the season. Jacobs still has another season to go and has already moved into 12th place for career tackles at SVSU. Black, who made First Team along with Jacobs, had five interceptions, which was good for third in the GLIAC. He returned one of the interceptions for a touchdown. Black also finished the season on a high note as he was named the GLIAC defensive player of the week for his performance in the Cardinals last game against Ferris State. He had two fumble recoveries, an interception and a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown.
Fournier had a good season punting the ball, placing sixth in the GLIAC with a 40.2 yard average per punt with a season long of 70 yards.
Goetz and Bush had solid seasons defensively for the Cards, both placing in the top 20 of the GLIAC in total sacks.
Goetz finished with 4.5 sacks, good for 13th place in the conference. Bush finished with 3.5 sacks, which placed him in a tie for 17th place.
LeVand, who is only a sophomore, placed 23rd in the GLIAC in total tackles with 71. He also had 3.5 sacks to cap off a strong season defensively.
Grimes was Stiefel’s second favorite receiver behind Stone. Grimes finished the season with 37 receptions for 507 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged 50.7 yards per game.
With six players returning to the team that made All-Conference, Collins is excited for the future.
“With all of the talent that we have returning, there’s no telling how far we can go next season,” Collins said.
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