Friday, November 30, 2018

COMMERCE, Texas – Two of the GNAC’s special award winners along with one of the league’s most consistent four-year defensive performers lead the conference’s five selections to the Division II Conference Commissioners Association’s (D2CCA) All-Super Region 4 Football Team.

Azusa Pacific senior linebacker Aaron Berry, Central Washington senior offensive lineman James Moore and Western Oregon senior linebacker Bo Highburger all earned first-team honors. The Cougars also earned second-team selections in senior offensive lineman Sakalaia Hungalu and senior punter Jacob Hall.

Berry, selected by coaches as the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year, led the GNAC with 105 total tackles and averaged 8.8 tackles per game to lead an APU defense that limited teams to 394.1 yards per game. He also led the conference with 17 tackles for loss and is ranked 40th in Division II with 1.4 tackles for loss per game. Berry had double-digit tackles in four games, led by his 14 against West Texas A&M on Sept. 1.

Moore was named the GNAC Offensive Lineman of the Year for his role in leading a Central Washington line that allowed the Wildcats to lead the GNAC and finish ranked third in Division II with 47.7 points per game. The same line protected quarterback Reilly Hennessey well, finishing 10th in Division II with 3.91 tackles for loss allowed per game and 26th with 1.27 sacks allowed per game.

Highburger, who earned this third First Team All-GNAC selection, led the conference with 9.4 tackles per game. He finished ranked 21st in Division II with 5.7 total tackles per game and 34th nationally with 1.5 tackles for loss per game. Highburger had 11 tackles, four tackles for loss and forced two fumbles against Azusa Pacific on Sept. 15 and had a season-high of 15 tackles in his final game at Eastern New Mexico on Nov. 10.

Hungalu, who is also a three-time First Team All-GNAC selection, was the key member of an Azusa Pacific line that protected an offense that finished with 397.6 yards of total offense per game and finished fifth in Division II with 3.67 tackles for loss allowed per game.

Hall earned First Team All-GNAC honors at both kicker and punter and earned all-region honors as a punter. Hall led the conference and is ranked sixth in Division II with 43.3 yards per punt. He had 13 punts of 50 yards or more and 16 that landed inside the 20-yard line. Hall’s longest punt of the season was a 74-yarder against Simon Fraser on Oct. 13, which tied a GNAC record.

The D2CCA Super Region 4 All-Region Team is nominated by and voted upon by sports information directors in the four Super Region 4 conferences: the GNAC, Lone Star, Northern Star and Rocky Mountain. Moore, Highburger and Berry will now move on for consideration for the D2CCA All-America Team, which will be announced in December.