Springfield, Ohio – The final set of postseason honors for members of the Wittenberg University football team have been announced as a whopping 13 student-athletes have earned NCAA Division III All-Ohio honors from OhioCollegeFootball.com (OCF).
Senior offensive tackle Aaron Coeling (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville), senior wide receiver Brendon Cunningham (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont), senior linebacker Spencer Leno (Massillon, Ohio/Massillon) and senior safety Mark Swope (Fairborn, Ohio/Fairborn) all earned spots on the first team. Senior offensive tackle Matt Widemon (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral), sophomore running back Sean Gary (Indianapolis, Ind./Decatur Central), sophomore center Alec Nutting (Lakeland, Fla./Lakeland), sophomore kicker Evan Grissom (Piqua, Ohio/Piqua) and sophomore defensive tackle Josh Bannick (Enon, Ohio/Greenon) were named to the second team. Senior quarterback Reed Florence (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern), senior tight end Stephen Zumdick (Erlanger, Ky./Dixie Heights), senior defensive tackle Josh Montgomery (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) and senior safety Heath Eby (Medina, Ohio/Cloverleaf) were selected for the third team.
Coeling was the foundation of one of the Tigers’ finest offensive units in Wittenberg history. He and his line mates cleared the way for a squad that racked up averages of 45.4 points and a league-leading 511.5 yards per game, both of which ranked among the best in all of NCAA Division III. Wittenberg allowed just 15 sacks in 12 games for a second straight season while pacing the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) in passing efficiency and ranking second in rushing and passing yards.
Coeling earned first-team all-conference honors in both 2012 and 2013, third-team All-North Region in 2012, and first-team All-North Region and third-team All-America from D3football.com in 2013. He was a first-team All-Ohio selection a year ago as well.
Widemon and Zumdick also were first-team all-league selections each of the last two seasons, while Nutting was a first-team All-NCAC honoree in 2013, his first season as a starter. Widemon was a third-team All-Ohio honoree in 2012, and both Widemon and Nutting earned All-America honors in 2013 from beyondsportsnetwork.com. Zumdick hauled in six passes for 124 yards and three touchdowns in 2013.
Cunningham finished the 2013 season with 63 catches for 1,189 yards and 13 touchdowns, each of which rank second in program history. He finished his career with 172 receptions, which ranks third in school history, 2,870 yards, which ranks second, and 30 touchdowns, which ranks second. Cunningham earned first-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) in 2013 after a pair of previous second-team designations, third-team All-Ohio in 2012, and second-team All-North Region from d3football.com in 2013.
Florence put together one of the finest seasons in the storied history of Wittenberg football en route to NCAC Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2013. He threw for school-record totals of 3,366 yards and 38 touchdowns, which is also an NCAC record, while completing more than 64 percent of his passes and finishing in the top five nationally in pass efficiency rating. In addition, Florence ran for 376 yards while setting the Wittenberg record for career rushing yards by a quarterback, and he finished with 74 career passing touchdowns, breaking the nearly 50-year-old mark established by National College Football Hall of Fame inductee Charlie Green.
Gary led the Tigers in rushing with 850 yards and 10 touchdowns en route to first-team All-NCAC honors. Grissom topped the Tigers in scoring with 83 points, which ranks third in program history for points by kicking in a season as he picked up second-team all-league honors. He set school records for extra points (62), extra points attempted (63) and extra point percentage (98.4) in 2013.
Defensively, Leno was the Tigers’ leading tackler in both 2012 and 2013, piling up 111 stops in his final collegiate campaign to earn first-team All-NCAC. He was a second-team All-Ohio selection a year ago.
Bannick ranked fifth on the team with 59 tackles and previously earned first-team all-league, where he was joined by Montgomery, who was credited with 36 tackles. Montgomery was a second-team all-league selection a year ago.
Rounding things out are the Tigers’ senior safeties, Swope and Eby. Swope was a three-time All-NCAC honoree, including a first-team designation in 2013 after contributing 55 tackles and leading the Tigers with nine passes defensed. In addition, Swope was a third-team All-Ohio selection in 2012 and a first-team All-North Region award-winner in 2013. Eby added 56 tackles and broken up five passes, in addition to an interception and a forced fumble as he picked up first-team All-NCAC honors in 2013.
Wittenberg bounced back from a season-opening loss to NCAA Division I FCS opponent Butler to win its fourth NCAC title in the last five years and league-best 12th since joining the league in 1989. The Tigers advanced to the second round of the 2013 NCAA Division III Tournament before losing to defending national champion Mount Union on Nov. 30 to finish with records of 10-2 overall and 9-0 in the NCAC.
Written By: Ryan Maurer