RICHMOND, Ky. -- Highlighted by a stirring speech by former Colonel All-American defensive tackle Chad Bratzke, now a starting defensive end for the New York Giants of the National Football League, the Eastern Kentucky University football banquet was held Thursday night at the Keen Johnson Building.
Bratzke, who last played for Eastern in 1993, told those in attendance, "If you have a dream, believe in it and prepare yourself to reach your limitations and then go beyond that." Some 300 Colonel fans, players and members of the University community were in attendance.
Highlighting the awards given out by the coaching staff were the Players of the Year awards passed out to each set of positions. These included: Defensive Back, Danny Thomas, senior strong safety; Defensive Line, Justin Ernest, junior tackle; Co-Offensive Back, junior wide receiver Rondel Menendez and freshman tailback Corey Crume.
Offensive Line, sophomore guard Josh Hunter; Special Teams, senior placekicker John Wright; Offensive Scout Team, junior tailback Drew Hall; and Defensive Scout Team, sophomore linebacker Bryan Davis.
Chosen as the Colonels' Offensive Most Valuable Player was senior quarterback Simon Fuentes who also was named Co-Offensive Player of the Year in the Ohio Valley Conference. On the 1997 season, Fuentes hit 126-210 passes for 2,006 yards and 13 TD's and set a school record for consecutive passes thrown without an interception (174).
Selected as Defensive MVP was senior linebacker Britt Bowen of Lithonia, GA, who was also a second-team All-OVC choice in 1997. Bowen led Eastern in tackles and assists with 57-43 (100 hits), had 13.5 tackles for loss, had two caused fumbles, one recovered fumble, 13 pass deflections and one interception. Bowen, later in the program, also received the Roy Kidd Award for Excellence, given by Eastern's football boosters organization, The Worn Cleat Club.
Also recognized were Eastern's 1997 I-AA All-Americans. These included senior safety Chris Guyton, first team Walter Camp Football Foundation; senior defensive end David Hoelscher, first team ESPN/SportsTicker; and junior offensive guard Tyrone Hopson, third team Associated Press.
Recognized for making first-team All-OVC were Hopson, Hunter, Fuentes, Menendez, Hoelscher, Guyton and sophomore tailback Derick Logan. Second-team all-conference choices in 1997 were Bowen, Ernest, Wright, senior kick returner Bobby Washington and senior cornerback Corey Clark.
Sophomore defensive tackle Jason Muchow, Washington at wide receiver and Thomas were honorable mention All-OVC picks.
Team captains for 1998 were decided by a vote of the players following spring practice and these selections were announced to those in attendance. The '98 EKU captains include Hopson and senior wide receiver Brian Brenneman on offense and Ernest and senior linebacker Charles Tinsley on defense.
Eastern finished last season with an 8-4 overall record and as champions of the OVC with an unblemished 7-0 mark. The Colonels also participated in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs for an unprecedented 17th time and closed the year ranked 15th in both The Sports Network and ESPN/SportsTicker polls.
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