FB's Paul Sommerstad gets AFCA Good Works award

September 15, 2004

Paul Sommerstad

St. Thomas football standout Paul Sommerstad (SR-Apple Valley/Eastview) is among 22 college football players nationally named to the 2004 Good Works Team by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).

The AFCA team honors 11 Division I-A seniors and 11 seniors from Divisions I-AA, II, III and NAIA for exceptional community service beyiond their classroom and on-field commitments.

St. Thomas is the lone football program nationally to have a player selected all seven years the expanded program has been in place.

Sommerstad was joined by Bethel's Matt Wassink to give the MIAC two honorees.

Sommerstad, a co-captain who's now in his fourth year as a starter in the Tommie defensive backfield, has a 3.58 gpa in Finance. Last spring semester he was a volunteer one day each week with Native American youth at Minneapolis South High School helping as a tutor and with weight training and conditioning. On the UST campus, he's been a volunteer tutor; participated in neighborhood clean-up days; has joined his teammates as a volunteer worker for the St. Thomas faculty/staff family Christmas party volunteer the last three years; and last year was co-director for the campus Toys-for-Teens drive and co-president of UST's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He's also been a church confirmation sponsor to a youth in his hometown of Apple Valley.

Sommerstad has started 30 of 31 games on his career, missing one with an injury. He has more than 180 tackles, 12 pass break-ups and five interceptions. He had 14 tackles in the 2003 season-ending game vs. Concordia-Moorhead.

Sommerstad follows former Tommie Mark Warder (1998), Greg Kaiser (1999), Mike Westland (2000), Brian Brenberg (2001), Andrew Hilliard (2002) and John Kaiser (2003) as AFCA Good Works recipients.

Bethel's Wassink worked on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and coordinated work sites that served the local community. He's also volunteered with campus ministries to organize a men's retreat and men's small groups; volunteered at a soup kitchen for the homeless in Minneapolis; assisted a Somali immigrant in learning the English language on Sunday afternoons; volunteered for Speak Out organization that serves the homeless of the Twin Cities; and has participated in mission trips to Mexico.

see AFCA story here

2004 AFCA Good Works Teams
Division I-A
Name Cl. Pos. School Head Coach Hometown/HS
-Antoine Huffman Jr. CB Kentucky/Rich Brooks Jonesboro, Ga. (Lovejoy)
-Jamaal Brimmer Sr. SS UNLV/John Robinson Las Vegas, Nev. (Durango)
-Nick Speegle Sr. LB New Mexico/Rocky Long
Albuquerque, N.M. (La Cueva)
-Derek Curry Sr. LB Notre Dame/Tyrone Willingham Sealy, Tex. (Sealy)
-Raymorris Barnes Sr. CB Rice/Ken Hatfield
D'lberville, Miss. (D'lberville)
-Taqiy Muhammad Sr. WR South Carolina/Lou Holtz
Wilmington, N.C. (Laney)
-Luke Johnson Jr. P/PK Southern Mississippi/Jeff Bower Laurel, Miss. (West Jones)
-Matt Tarullo Sr. C Syracuse/Paul Pasqualoni Albany, N.Y. (Colonie)
-James Kilian Sr. QB Tulsa/Steve Kragthorpe Medford, Okla. (Medford)
-Morgan Scalley Sr. DB Utah/Urban Meyer Salt Lake City, Utah (Highland)
-Brian BarthelmesJr. OG Virginia/Al Groh Parkman, Ohio (Kenston)

Divisions I-AA, II, III, and NAIA
Name Cl. Pos. School Head Coach Hometown/HS
-Justin Roemer So.LB Amherst/E.J. Mills, Jupiter, Fla. (Benjamin)
-Chris Noyes Sr.FB Bethel (Kan.)/Mike Moore, Newton, Kan. (Newton)
-Matt Wassink Sr.LB Bethel (Minn.)/Steve Johnson, Alton, Iowa (Moc-Floyd Valley)
-Jeremy Slaughter Sr.C Chadron St.(Neb.)/Brad Smith , Woodland Park, Colo. (Woodland Park)
-Chris Green Jr.CB Dartmouth/John Lyons, LaGrange Park, Ill. (Lyons Township)
-Chris Kirk Sr.FB Jacksonville St./Jack Crowe, Rex, Ga. (Mount Zion)
-Colt Palmer Sr.FB Montana/Bobby Hauck, Omaha, Neb. (Millard North)
-Jared Essler Sr.FS North Dakota St./Craig Bohl, Minot, N.D. (Bishop Ryan)
-John Hines Sr.OL Puget Sound/Philip Willenbrock, Tacoma, Wash. (Lincoln)
-Paul Sommerstad Sr.DB St. Thomas (Minn.)/Don Roney, Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview
-Mike Boen Sr.P/WR Sioux Falls/Bob Young, Luverne, S.D. (Luverne)