BLUFFTON, Ohio - Wins in Bluffton's last two games propelled the Beavers to a fifth-place finish in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and with that came 10 All-HCAC honorees when the post-season hardware was handed out! Bluffton placed three players on the first team, one on the second team and the Beavers was six men garnering honorable mention recognition
Senior Hunter Lacer (Oak Harbor) collected his third straight All-Heartland Conference award in 2021. A second team selection as a sophomore, Lacer has been a fixture on the line for his entire career as a Beaver. He has played multiple positions up front, allowing Bluffton to put its best five on the field when injuries wreaked havoc to the offense.
Making the most of his fifth year after a unique 2021 spring that was cut short due to a broken hand, Stephan Kosakowski (Cleveland/Benedictine) led the Beavers with a team-high 73 tackles. He forced opposing to go away from their primary targets, racking up team highs of nine breakups and three interceptions. Kosakowski added 4.5 TFL's, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in his fifth season for the Purple and White. His 73 tackles were 7th in the conference, while his nine breakups were tied for 4th in the HCAC. He is a 4-time All-Heartland Conference selection, earning second team in the spring and capping off his final season with First Team All-HCAC honors!
Kosakowski leaves Bluffton as the all-time leader with 30 career breakups and 40 passes defended! His 10 pickoffs are tied for 9th all-time and his 240 total tackles are 6th on the career list. He also made his mark on the single-season list with his 51 solo stops (7th all-time), nine breakups (5th all-time) and 12 passes defended (6th all-time).
Showing out with his second First Team All-Heartland Conference award in the past seven months was another fifth-year senior, Dana Shoulders II (Mansfield/Lexington). He stuffed the opposition with 8.5 TFL's after 9.5 stops in the backfield during the spring season. The standout defensive lineman had team highs of four quarterback hurries and two forced fumbles. He also chipped in with two breakups, a recovery and 31 tackles, including 23 solos.
Shoulders was an ironman, playing in 47 games as a Beaver. He finished his career with 149 tackles, including 93 of the solo variety. His 31 career TFL's are 8th all-time, while his 13 sacks for 84 yards lost are both 7th on all-time list at Bluffton. He finished 3rd all-time with nine career hurries and his five forced fumbles are tied for 5th all-time.
Road grader Markus Finley (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) provided the protection that allowed Bluffton to throw it around for over 180 yards per game. He has been dominant on the offensive line en route to a pair of Second Team All-HCAC honors during the calendar year of 2021! His work up front helped the Beavers put up 272 yards per game, 5th in the HCAC.
Senior Keith Holmes Jr. was named honorable mention for the second time this year, one of six Bluffton football players to be recognized as honorable mention by the HCAC coaches. He led the Beaver defense with 10 TFL's and four sacks in nine games. Holmes was named to the D3football.com Team of the Week after he stuffed the stat sheet with six tackles, four tackles for a loss of minus-27 yards, two sacks for 14 yards, a breakup, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the home opener against Saint Vincent. He also had a pick six in Bluffton's 30-12 rout at Defiance in the season finale. The tackle finished his senior campaign with 28 tackles, three breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Holmes capped off his career tied for 10th all-time with 24 career TFL's. His 64 sack yards left him 8th on the career list at Bluffton. He leaves Bluffton with 132 tackles, nine sacks, four breakups, two hurries, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Senior linebacker Louden Saulbeamer nailed down his first All-HCAC honor after wrapping up opponents with 50 tackles, second-most for the Beavers. He added two breakups, a forced fumble and a sack. His 50 tackles gave Saulbeamer 107 tackles for his career, including 3.5 TFL's. He finished with five breakups and two forced fumbles.
Freshman Blake Rine (Heath/Granville) saw significant time under center in his first season as the Bluffton signal-caller. He completed 100 passes for 1,153 yards with 11 scoring strikes. Rine made his mark early when he connected with senior Jeremy Locklear (Lincoln Park, Mich./Harry S. Truman) for a 75-yard touchdown pass in Bluffton's home opener against Saint Vincent.
Another freshman who worked out of the backfield was Kainan Stoner (Belle Center/Benjamin Logan) who led Bluffton's ground attack with 307 yards and two touchdowns on 104 carries. He also caught eight passes for 88 yards with a 26-yard reception on his resume.
Sophomore Zane Dine (Marion/Pleasant) had a breakout season for the Beavers, leading the pass catchers with 27 receptions for 344 yards (12.7 YPC) and a touchdown.
Junior Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start) was back on the gridiron after helping the Beaver baseball team to a Heartland Conference tournament run in the spring. He handled all of Bluffton kicking and punting duties this fall. Bummy was 6-of-9 on field goals with a 37-yarder in Bluffton's 31-7 Senior Day win over Manchester. He punted 62 times for 2,272 yards with five touchbacks, 12 inside the 20-yard line and eight that went for 50 yards or more, including a school-record 90-yard punt! He also kicked off 38 times with a 52.0 yard average and six touchbacks.
His 117 punts, over just two seasons, are 7th all-time for the Beavers. Baumgartner stands 2nd all-time with his 62 punts this season and his 36.6 yards per punt were 15th all-time. His 37 points scored led Bluffton in 2021 as he converted 19-of-21 PAT's to go along with his six field goals. Baumgartner was named the HCAC Special Teams Player of the Week after hitting all three of his field goals and three PAT's in Bluffton's 30-12 victory for 'The Hammer' last Saturday during the season finale.
The HCAC sportsmanship award was developed as part of a conference-wide sportsmanship initiative in 2009. Members of the All-HCAC Sportsmanship team are selected by the coaches and their teammates as individuals who demonstrate the ideals of positive sportsmanship both on and off the field/court of competition. Nominees must have demonstrated consistently the values of respect, and integrity in his or her daily participation in intercollegiate athletics. Senior Zachary Nobis (Bryan) was recognized from Bluffton Football.
Bluffton finished its 17th game of the 2021 calendar year, going 8-9 while battling COVID-19. The Beavers swept Anderson, Manchester and rival Defiance, claiming 'The Hammer' twice in a span of seven months. Congratulations to all of the conference award winners!
-BEAVERS-