MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Eureka College senior wide receiver Wes Schmidgall (Eureka, Ill./Eureka H.S./Culver-Stockton) has been selected for the seventh annual D3Football.com All-West Region Third Team, according to an announcement from the website on Monday. Schmidgall is the first Eureka football player to earn All-Region accolades from the website and is now eligible for All-America honors from D3Football.com.
Schmidgall, who also earned All-Upper Midwest Athletic Conference First Team honors in 2011, led the league and ranked fifth nationally in Division III with 1,247 receiving yards. His 73 receptions ranked second in the UMAC and his 16 touchdowns ranked tied for first. For his four-year collegiate career that includes numbers from his freshman season at NAIA Culver-Stockton, Schimdgall made 196 catches for 3,631 yards and 43 touchdowns. Following his 18-catch, 273-yard performance on Oct. 22 against UMAC preseason favorite Greenville, Schmidgall was named to the D3Football.com national Team of the Week and received UMAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second time in his career.
The All-West Region Team, selected in balloting by sports information directors and D3football.com staff, were chosen from 212 nominations by Division III member schools. A total of 75 players were chosen. Each All-Region honoree is eligible for the D3Football.com All-America Team that will be announced during the pregame show for the Stagg Bowl, the NCAA Division III championship game to be played on Dec. 16 in Salem, Va.
Running back Levell Coppage of top-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater shared the West Region Offensive Player of the Year honor with Dubuque receiver Michael Zweifel. St. Thomas (Minn.) linebacker Tony Danna was chosen as the West Region Defensive Player of the Year, while Chris Sulages of Lewis and Clark (Ore.) was named West Region Coach of the Year. Schmidgall joined four players from league champion St. Scholastica as representatives from the UMAC on the All-West Region Team.
Eureka finished the 2011 season with a 4-6 overall record and a 4-5 UMAC record to finish sixth in the 10-team league.