Thirteen Yellow Jackets among All-HCAC football selections

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) announced their all-conference selections and major awards for the 2022 football season on Thursday with 13 members of the Defiance College football program among the honorees. 

Freshman wide receiver and returner Da'realyst Clark (Lima, Ohio/Lima Senior) was tabbed the league's Newcomer of the Year, recognized as a first-year player that stood above the rest by the conference's coaches. 

Clark was among three Yellow Jackets to receive All-Conference First Team alongside senior linebacker Thomas Coltrain (Leslie, Mich./Leslie) and junior defensive lineman Richard Pope IV (Daytona Beach, Fla./Atlantic).

Clark was one of the most lethal kick returners in the conference with two return touchdowns and averaged 26.7 yards per return, the second-best average in the conference. He had three different games with 135 return yards or more, which accounted for three of the HCAC's top six kick return games of the year. Clark was one of seven returners at the Division III level and 19 across the NCAA to return multiple kicks for scores this season. As a receiver, Clark hauled in 17 catches for 278 yards and two touchdowns. His 16.4 yards per reception ranked sixth among HCAC wideouts.

The First Team nod for Coltrain was his third in a row to cap off his storied career at Defiance. He finished second in the conference with 88 tackles, led the league with 54 solo stops and tied for sixth with 11 tackles for loss. His 257 career tackles over 33 career games averaged out to 7.8 stops per contest. Coltrain's 17-tackle game against Franklin was the highest single-game total by any defensive player in the HCAC this year.

Pope also earned his third All-Conference selection and his second First Team award. He led the HCAC in tackles for loss with 14.0 and also recorded the second-most sacks with eight. Pope was on the conference's First Team as a freshman and was Second Team last season.

All-Conference Second Team was made up of four Defiance players: senior tight end Cole Recker (Monument, Colo./Lewis Palmer), junior offensive lineman Eric Moultrie Jr. (Snellville, Ga./South Gwinnett), senior defensive tackle Rigo Villa (Fort Myers, Fla./Lehigh) and senior corner V'Sean Palmer (Dayton, Ohio/Thurgood Marshall).

Six more Jackets picked up All-Conference Honorable Mention: senior quarterback Jordan Ambrose (Tomball, Texas/Klein), junior running back Tyshaun Freeman (Macon, Ga./Westside), sophomore wide receiver Tawann Rome (New Orleans, La./Arabia Mountain), senior linebacker Justin Caballero (Riverview, Fla./East Bay), sophomore placekicker Zeke Sanchez (Indianapolis, Ind./Warren Central) and senior long snapper Noah Pistory (New Bavaria, Ohio/Holgate).

Villa, Moultrie and Freeman are all three-time All-Conference recipients while Ambrose, Caballero, Palmer, Pistory, Recker and Sanchez were all honored for the first time.

The Yellow Jackets ended the 2022 season with a 3-7 record under first-year head coach Bill Nickell by winning 3 of their last 4 games after an 0-6 start.

The complete list of HCAC All-Conference Awards can be found at www.heartlandconf.org or by clicking here. 

-JACKETS-