\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 FLORENCE, Ala. \u2013 West Liberty University senior quarterback Zach Amedro was nosed out for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the 2010 NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year by the\u00a0 narrowest margin in the history of the award here Friday night.<\/p>\n
The leading passer in NCAA Division II history, Amedro finished second\u00a0 in the national Player of the Year balloting to Eric Czerniewski of\u00a0 Central Missouri. Czerniewski, also a senior quarterback, received 35\u00a0 first-place votes and 164 points in the nationwide balloting of NCAA\u00a0 Division II sports information directors.<\/p>\n
Amedro received 34 first-place votes and came up just six points shy\u00a0 of the honor with 158 points. Blake Bolles, a senior quarterback from\u00a0 Northwest Missouri State, was a distant third with 6 first-place votes\u00a0 and 64 points.<\/p>\n
Amedro, Czerniewski and Bolles were seated at the dais as guests of\u00a0 honor at Friday night\u2019s 25th annual Harlon Hill Trophy\/NCAA Division II\u00a0 Hall of Fame Banquet hosted by the Marriott Shoals Conference Center. <\/p>\n
It was the second consecutive year that Amedro has finished second in\u00a0 the Harlon Hill Trophy balloting. He was runner-up to Wayne State\u00a0 (Mich.) running back Joique Bell at the end of the 2009 season. The West\u00a0 Liberty quarterback is the first NCAA Division II player ever to finish\u00a0 second in the national Player of the Year voting in back-to-back years.<\/p>\n
Amedro is only the second two-time Harlon Hill finalist ever\u00a0 produced by the West Virginia Conference and the first to earn\u00a0 back-to-back invitations to the Awards Banquet as one of the three top\u00a0 vote-getters. His two runner-up finishes are the highest ever for a\u00a0 WVIAC player. Shepherd All-America running back Damian Beane finished\u00a0 fourth in the 1998 balloting and was third in 1999.<\/p>\n
Following are capsule summaries on this year\u2019s three national finalists:<\/p>\n
Czerniewski, a native of Montgomery City, Mo., set an NCAA Division II\u00a0 single-season record with 5,207 passing yards in 14 games (371.9 ypg.)\u00a0 with Central Missouri, which advanced to the quarterfinal round of the\u00a0 playoffs before bowing out in a 37-20 loss to Northwest Missouri State.\u00a0 Czerniewski completed 447-of-670 passes with 46 TDs and 15 INTs in his\u00a0 record-setting year but went 27-of-49 for a season-low 212 yards with 2\u00a0 TDs and 2 INTs in the playoff loss to NWMSU. Nevertheless, he passed for\u00a0 300 or more yards in 10 of his 14 games and is the MIAA career leader\u00a0 in passing yards (12,847) and total offense. The 4-year starter finished\u00a0 his career with 107 TD passes and 1,043 pass completions.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amedro, a 6-0, 200-pound senior from Moundsville, W.Va., threw for\u00a0 more yards (14,733) and completed more passes (1,079) than any\u00a0 quarterback in NCAA Division II history while leading the Hilltoppers to\u00a0 back-to-back national scoring and total offense championships the past\u00a0 two years. A two-time WVIAC and Super Region One Player of the Year,\u00a0 Amedro completed 329-of-485 passes for 4,085 yards (405.8 ypg.) and 38\u00a0 TDs this fall. He ranked among the top three nationally in passing yards\u00a0 per game, total offense per game and completions per game. The 4-year\u00a0 starter set NCAA Division II career records for passing yards per game\u00a0 (334.8), 300-yard passing games (30), 300-yard total offense games (29),\u00a0 consecutive 300-yard passing games (14) and consecutive 300-yard total\u00a0 offense games (14) while ranking No. 2 all-time in total offense\u00a0 (14,598), touchdown passes (126) and total offense per game (331.8).<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bolles, a native of Lincoln, Neb., helped lead Northwest Missouri\u00a0 State to the semifinals of this year\u2019s NCAA Division II playoffs only to\u00a0 see NWMSU drop a 17-13 decision to Minnesota-Duluth. Bolles had his\u00a0 best season as a senior, completing 289-of-459 passes for 3,846 yards\u00a0 (274.7 ypg.) and 30 TDs with 11 INTs in 14 games. Playing in brutally\u00a0 frigid conditions a week ago, he was 19-of-29 for 141 yards and 1\u00a0 touchdown with 3 interceptions in the semifinal loss to Minnesota-Duluth\u00a0 but still finished his career as Northwest Missouri’s career leader in\u00a0 passing yards (8,668) and passing TDs (79) and helped lead NWMSU to an\u00a0 MIAA-record 46 straight conference victories.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Harlon Hill Trophy honors former University of North Alabama\u00a0 player Harlon Hill, a standout with the UNA Lions from 1950-53 before\u00a0 going on to a solid National Football League career with the Chicago\u00a0 Bears.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Harlon Hill Trophy\/NCAA Division II Hall of Fame\u00a0 Banquet is part of the festivities leading up to tomorrow\u2019s 2010 NCAA\u00a0 Division II national championship game between Minnesota-Duluth and\u00a0 Delta State (Miss.). Kickoff for the nationally-televised game (ESPN2)\u00a0 is set for 11 a.m. (EST) at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In addition to the announcement of the 25th Harlon Hill Trophy\u00a0 winner, the Banquet featured the induction of coaches Ken Sparks of\u00a0 Carson-Newman (Tenn.), Mel Tjeerdsma of Northwest Missouri State and\u00a0 Bobby Wallace of the University of West Alabama into the NCAA Division\u00a0 II Football Hall of Fame.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 FLORENCE, Ala. \u2013 West Liberty University senior quarterback Zach Amedro was nosed out for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the 2010 NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year by the\u00a0 narrowest margin in the history of the award here Friday night. The leading passer in NCAA Division II history, Amedro finished second\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college"],"yoast_head":"\n