DATE: November 14, 2006
Five Beavers named First-Team All-NSIC; BSU earns school-record 16 spots on All-NSIC Team

BEMIDJI, Minn. - In recognition of what has become arguably the finest football season in the history of Bemidji State University, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference today tabbed BSU head coach Jeff Tesch as the 2006 NSIC Coach of the Year. Tesch’s honor was announced in conjunction with the 2006 All-NSIC Team, which features five Bemidji State players on the All-NSIC First Team and a school-record 16 players honored overall on the all-conference lineup.

Tesch earned the second NSIC Coach of the Year honor of his 11-year tenure at Bemidji State. He also earned Coach of the Year laurels following the 1998 season, when Tesch led the Beavers to a 6-4 record and the program’s first winning season since 1986. Tesch’s 2006 honor is the fourth Coach of the Year award won by a Bemidji State field general since the NSIC instituted the award in 1985; in addition to Tesch’s 1998 honor, Kris Diaz was named NSIC Coach of the Year in 1989 and 1995.

Bemidji State tied a school record by winning nine games in 2006 and posted an 8-0 record in NSIC play to win the league outright for the first time in school history. BSU’s 2006 NSIC title was the fifth in the history of the program, but the first since 1959 and the first not shared with another program. The Beavers also set school records for wins in NSIC play (8), consecutive wins in NSIC play (8) and consecutive road wins over NSIC opponents (5).

BSU made its fortunes on defense during the 2006 regular season, as “Gang Green” will enter the 2006 Mineral Water Bowl as the nation’s No. 10-ranked unit in total defense and as the nation’s top-ranked defense against the run.

Tesch led the Beavers to a school-record No. 8 ranking in the NCAA Midwest Regional poll, its highest in school history, and also guided the Beavers to Top 25 appearances in both the AFCA and d2football.com polls - also the first-ever for the Bemidji State program.

Offensive linemates Justin Guy (Blaine, Minn.) and John Keaveny (St. Cloud, Minn.) anchored BSU’s group of five First-Team All-NSIC honorees, which also include defensive tackle Zach Stafford (Fergus Falls, Minn.), kickoff return specialist Johnathan Hawks (Gainesville, Ga.) and punt return specialist Anthony Schreiber (Berkeley, Ill.).

•Justin Guy and John Keaveny helped block for a BSU offense which led the NSIC and ranked 29th nationally in scoring (29.3) and led the NSIC in rushing (153.3 yds/gm), rushing touchdowns (20) and total touchdowns scored (39). BSU was one of three NSIC teams to roll up more than 200 first downs on the season (203, 3rd), and BSU’s 20 sacks allowed were third-fewest in the NSIC.

Keaveny, who was an Honorable-Mention All-NSIC pick as a sophomore in 2005, has started 21 consecutive games for BSU at left guard, while Guy started all 11 games for BSU at left tackle in 2006.

•Zach Stafford finished fourth on team with 51 tackles and led BSU with 14.5 tackles-for-loss (1.32 TFL/gm), third-most in the NSIC and tied for seventh-most in a season at BSU. He finished second on team and third in NSIC with 6.5 sacks (0.59 sacks/gm), tied for 11th on BSU season list. Stafford climbed into a tie for ninth on BSU’s career list for tackles-for-loss (26.0) and ranks ninth all-time at BSU in yardage lost on TFLs (98), and also reached seventh on BSU career list with 13.5 sacks and is ninth on BSU career list for yardage lost from sacks (72).

Stafford elped Bemidji State end the 2006 regular season as the nation’s No. 1-ranked defense against the run, allowing 40.6 yards per game. BSU is ranked No. 10 nationally in total defense (243.6 yards/gm). Stafford also helped BSU lead the NSIC with 40 quarterback sacks, third-most in a season in school history.

Stafford was an Honorable-Mention All-NSIC selection in 2005.

•Johnathan Hawks set a BSU single-season record with an NSIC-leading 34.4-yard average on kickoff returns as the first player in BSU history to average more than 30 yards per return for the season. He will need three kickoff returns in Mineral Water Bowl to qualify for national leaderboards; he led the NCAA in kickoff return average on Nov. 4 and Nov. 11. Hawks ranks 11th on the BSU career list for kickoff return yardage (476) despite having just 17 career returns.

Hawks tied an NCAA record with a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown at Northern State on Sept. 30, and helped BSU lead the NSIC in kickoff return average (18.9). He was the Oct. 1 Don Hansen’s Football Gazette National Special Teams Player of the Week and Oct. 2 NSIC Special Teams Player of the Week.

•Anthony Schreiber, who also was named Honorable-Mention All-NSIC at wide receiver, led BSU in scoring, touchdowns scored, receptions and receiving yardage and finished second in receiving touchdowns. Of his nine touchdowns on the season, six came on receptions, two came rushing and one came on a 51-yard punt return against MSU-Moorhead. Schreiber finished third in the NSIC in punt return yards (197), eighth on the BSU single-season list. He climbed to third on BSU’s career list for punt returns (39) and is fourth all-time at BSU in punt return yardage (265).

As a receiver, he finished sixth in the NSIC in receiving yards/game (66.2) and eighth in receptions per game (4.82). He tied for seventh in the NSIC in scoring (4.9) and became just the ninth player in BSU history to score 20 touchdowns in a career. He finished fifth in the NSIC in all-purpose running (98.5 yards/gm) and is now ninth all-time at BSU in all-purpose yardage (2,644). Schreiber was the Nov. 13 NSIC Offensive Player of the Week.

Schreiber was an Honorable-Mention All-NSIC selection in 2005.

BSU’s group of five First-Team All-NSIC honorees is the most for the program since 2001, when BSU had seven First-Team All-NSIC players, and marks just the third time in school history that five or more Beavers have been named first-team all-conference. BSU had five All-Northern Intercollegiate Conference first teamers in 1957.

The All-NSIC Second Team is dominated by Bemidji State players on the defensive side of the ball. Five of the 11 second-team honorees sport the green and white, led by BSU sack leader Robert Molstad (Champlin, Minn.). Molstad led BSU and finished second in the NSIC with 7.0 sacks, tied for seventh-most in a season at BSU. He was joined on the All-NSIC second team by linebackers Zach Christ (Buffalo, Minn.) and Matt Heber (Mundelein, Ill.), cornerback Willy Plancher (Naples, Fla.) and safety Jeremiah Johnson (Glidden, Iowa).

Christ led BSU with 79 total tackles and 20 solo tackles, and added 10 tackles-for-loss. His 6.0 sacks were tied for third on the team, but led BSU’s linebackers. He also posted a team-high six passes defensed with an interception and a team-leading five passes broken up.

Heber had a breakout campaign, and until the final two weeks of the regular season was vying to become the first player in BSU history to lead the team in both interceptions and tackles-for-loss in the same season. He posted 48 tackles (25 solo) and leads BSU with four interceptions, tying a school record for linebackers. He has 13.0 tackles-for-loss, second on the team. He also tied BSU’s single-season record with two interception returns for touchdown.

Plancher recorded 40 tackles (19 solo) from his cornerback position and tied for second on the team with five passes defensed - one interception and four passes broken up. He also had one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

Johnson finished second on the squad with 62 tackles (17 solo) and had two tackles-for-loss, two interceptions and two pass breakups on the year. He has climbed into eighth place on BSU’s career list for total tackles (279) and needs 21 tackles to become the sixth player in BSU history to reach 300 for his career.

BSU earned six postions amongst the honorable mention All-NSIC honoreees. That group included offensive linemen Chase Pearson (Roseau, Minn.) and Brian Vollbrecht (Morristown, Minn.), punter Michael McDonald (Berkeley, Ill.), linebacker Ben Baratto (Crosby, Minn.) and wide receivers Schreiber and Chad Christianson (Hudson, Wis.).

BSU’s group of 16 All-NSIC honorees shattered the previous record of 11, set last season. Prior to the 2005 campaign, BSU had never placed more than nine players on an all-conference honor roll in a single season.

Bemidji State (9-2 / 8-0 NSIC) clinched its first-ever outright NSIC championship and the fifth conference title in school history with its Nov. 10 win over Upper Iowa, earning the program its first-ever post-season appearance in football. The Beavers will tackle Pittsburg (Kan.) State, which also finished 9-2 overall and posted a 7-2 record to tie for second in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, in the Mineral Water Bowl. The only NCAA-sanctioned bowl game for Division II football, the Mineral Water Bowl will kick off at 1 p.m. Central time on Saturday, Dec. 2 from Tiger Stadium in Excelsior Springs, Mo.

--beavers--