December 6, 2017
BLUFFTON, Ohio - For the fourth straight season, the Bluffton University football team has an all-region selection in junior Isaac Zickafoose (Middlebury, Ind./Northridge). Zickafoose is the third two-time D3football.com All-North Region honoree in the past three seasons following 2015 First Team selection Ryan Aelker and Micah Roberson who was honored in 2015 and 2016. It also marks the fourth straight year that a Bluffton defensive lineman has been named All-North Region. Zickafoose was named Third Team All-North Region.
Players who are first or second-team all-conference or independents at full Division III members are eligible for nomination and 1,037 players were nominated this season, a new high. All players nominated for All-Region teams are eligible for selection to the D3football.com All-America team in December. However, the All-America team is made up primarily of players named to the All-Region first or second teams.
Zickafoose battled double and triple teams on his way to a third straight First Team All-Heartland Conference honor. He was a marked man after being named the HCAC Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2016. The talented junior was second on the team with 51 tackles, 12.0 yards TFL's and 5.0 sacks. His six quarterback hurries tied Ryan Aelker for first on Bluffton's single-season list.
He was the HCAC Player of the Week following his otherworldy performance in Bluffton's 56-14 dismantling of Anderson on Homecoming Saturday. He tallied six solo tackles, a forced fumble, three sacks and four tackles-for-loss. His sacks set AU back 32 yards and he forced a fumble on the third sack, picked it up and returned it for a score midway through the third quarter. The junior blocked a punt that Kay Boakye (Westerville/South) scooped up and ran back for a Bluffton touchdown late in the first half. He also scooted for 17 yards on a fake punt to keep the chains moving in the second quarter, and finished with a quarterback hurry and pass breakup. The Beaver defense allowed only 178 yards of offense with four total rushing yards.
Zickafoose is second all-time at Bluffton with 24 career sacks, 243 TFL yards and five fumble recoveries. He is third with 43.5 TFL's, 176 sack yards and his 14 quarterback hurries are tops all-time at Bluffton.
Bluffton wrapped up its season at 4-6 (4-4 HCAC), improving to 23-17 during the four years since Head Coach Denny Dorrel came on the scene. The 23 victories put up by the senior class equaled the 2016 seniors for the most since the 2001 seniors went 24-16!
-BEAVERS-