Football lands five on All-West Region team

December 11, 2009

No. 10-ranked St. Thomas had four players, all underclassmen, voted to the D3Football.com All-West Region team that was announced today.

Only No. 2-rated UW-Whitewater (six) had more first-team picks than the Tommies, who set a school record with 11 wins and reached the NCAA playoff quarterfinals for the second time in school history..

Junior center Josh Ostrue and junior RB Ben Wartman were repeat honorees. Sophomore Fritz Waldvogel was first team at kick returner and second team at wide receiver. Sophomore Chad Vandergriff was first team at offensive tackle.

Junior safety Bryan Villar was voted second team All-West Region.

PHOTOS: Top to bottom, Josh Ostrue, Ben Wartman, Fritz Waldvogel, Chad Vandergriff, Bryan Villar

Ostrue, a junior, has started all 33 games on his UST career. He made AFCA first-team All-America honors in 2008 and likely will be a repeat honoree when the 2009 team is announced next week. In the 23 games since he moved to center, St. Thomas has posted 24 100-yard rushing performances and has allowed just 11 sacks, including only two this season.

The 6-2, 205-pound Wartman ranks fifth in D-III rushing per game and closed with a school-record 1,827 yards. He also had 2,118 all-purpose yards. He’s surpassed 100 rushing yards 19 of his last 21 outings, and the Toms are 17-2 in those games. (He had 300 yards in a 2008 loss to Augsburg; 143 yards in the 2009 playoff loss at Linfield; and 90 and 80 yards in two games against St. John’s.) In 23 career games at running back, Wartman has 3,138 rushing yards and 37 touchdowns. His 24 touchdowns in 2009 broke a 19-year-old school record and he ranks 13th in D-III ppg. He’s had a productive last 15 months in general. In baseball, he played all 12 innings at catcher with two hits and threw two runners out stealing in a 3-2 NCAA championship game victory over Wooster (Ohio). He recently was named a first-team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American with a 3.87 gpa in Business.

Waldvogel was named 2009 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player. Waldvogel becomes the first St. Thomas MVP honoree, and first sophomore recipient of the award, which was first presented in 1995. He has 2,321 all-purpose yards in all 13 games this season to rank eighth in Division III per-game average, including 85 catches for 1,149 yards and 13 TDs. He leads all NCAA players in kick/punt return touchdowns with six. He has had eight kick returns of 50 or more yards this season; ranks second in Division III in kick return average at 33.0 ypr; tied an NCAA record with two punt returns for TDs in one quarter; had a rare back-to-back performance where he returned the game's opening kickoff for a TD on Oct. 24 and 31; had a punt return TD and a kick return TD in the same half against Northwestern; had a 59-yard kickoff return against St. John's; and had a 71-yard kick return in the NCAA playoff win over Monmouth.

The 5-foot-9, 165-pounder has 18 touchdowns, 137 receptions for 1,819 yards, and 3,298 all-purpose yards in 22 career games. That includes 22 gains of 38 or more yards on receptions, rushes and returns. Waldvogel returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown on back-to-back weeks -- A 48-28 win at Carleton on Oct. 24 and a 42-3 win over Augsburg on Oct. 31. The conference had gone 171 games without an opening kickoff returned for a TD before Waldvogel's double. As a freshman for the Tommies in 2008, he also had one punt return to the end zone in a win over Carleton, and also had a 56-yard kick return against Bethel. Last May in an exhibition game in Canada, he had a 99-yard TD return negated by a penalty. He also had three TDs on kick returns as a prep senior in the Twin Cities.

The 6-5, 320-pound Vandergriff and Waldvogel are two of only four sophomores among 50 players on the West Region first- and second teams. Vandergriff made first-team All-MIAC -– just the third sophomore tackle so honored in the last 20 seasons. He helped the Tommie offense generate per game averages of 249 rushing yards and 427 yards in total offense. UST broke school season records for points, TDs, total offense and rushing yards, and ranked among the leaders in all NCAA levels with just two sacks allowed.

Villar, a two-year starter, helped the UST defense that allowed 282 yards of offense and 15.6 points per game and had 26 takeaways in 13 games. He led the team in tackles with 77 and had four pass breakups, an interception and two tackles for loss.

Ten other MIAC players were chosen on the 75-player, three-team honor squad, including two first-team picks -– seniors DTs Kyle Schroeder of St. John’s and C.J. Tabasky of St. Olaf.

Click here to view complete All-West Region teams:

http://www.d3football.com/all-region/2009_d3football_all-west_region.pdf