Butler’s Stazer among 13 SRU All-PSAC West honorees
SLIPPERY ROCK — To say Slippery Rock University’s football team has earned the respect of other teams in the PSAC West would be quite an understatement.
The PSAC West all-star football team was released Wednesday and 13 SRU players were named to the squad. That’s more selections than any other PSAC West school. Shepherd had 13 players named to the All-PSAC East team.
Rock head coach Shawn Lutz was named PSAC Coach of the Year and quarterback Brayden Long was named Offensive Player of the Year.
“That should be Staff of the Year,” Lutz said of his honor. “I have a tremendous staff working with me here. We all do this together.”
Lutz was named Coach of the Year for the third time since 2018. His terms have won or shared five consecutive PSAC West championships.
Long became the first football player in PSAC history to receive the PSAC Champion Scholar Award (for highest grade point average in the league championship game) while being named one of the conference’s Athletes of the Year.
Long has thrown for 3,061 yards and 33 touchdowns. He ranks sixth in all of Division II in both of those categories. His 33 TD tosses rank second all-time at The Rock for a single season.
“Brayden is such a cool customer back there,” Lutz said. “He’s always composed and doesn’t get rattled. He’s been the perfect guy to run this offense. He’s had a phenomenal year.”
Long was named PSAC West Offensive Athlete of the Week four times during the regular season.
Running back Khalid Dorsey, tackle Yuriy Hryckowian, guard Colton Rossi, tight end Kam Kruzelyak and receiver Kyle Sheets joined Long as first team selections for The Rock on offense. Making second team were Butler graduate and senior guard Nick Stazer, tackle Joe Cooper and receiver Cohen Russell.
“Stazer just really wanted it,” Lutz said. “He was here every summer, never missed a workout. The kid played one year of high school football, walked on here and has became a leader on our football team.
“This is a kid who really wanted to play.”
The only member of SRU’s offensive front to not make the team was center Jeff Burkhart, who made All-PSAC West last year.
“I know they can’t take everybody, but Jeff deserved to be on that team,” Lutz said. “Still, it was nice to see our offensive line get the recognition that it did.”
Dorsey has rushed for 776 yards and 11 touchdowns this season. He leads the PSAC with a 6.9 yards per carry average. Kruzelyak has 33 catches for 315 yards and four TDs while helping to block for a team that averages 173.1 rushing yards per game.
Russell has 53 receptions for 880 yards and five touchdowns. Sheets has produced 63 catches for 1,028 yards and 15 TDs. His touchdown receptions are third most in all of Division II.
Defensively, lineman Munchie Johnson and defensive back Eddie Faulkner IV made first team. Linebackers Jaylen Dangerfield and Kyle Kudla made second team.
Faulkner had 47 tackles and four quarterback sacks from his safety position. He had four interceptions as well. Johnson had 52 tackles and 11.5 tackles for loss from his down lineman position.
Dangerfield moved from safety to linebacker for the second half of the season, due to the emergence of Freeport graduate and Rock freshman Ben Lane at safety. He had 52 tackles and an interception for a touchdown. Kudla led SRU with 72 tackles, including 7.5 for loss.
The Rock is one of 13 Division II teams in the country with at least 10 wins and enters the playoffs for the fifth straight season, hosting East Stroudsburg at 1 p.m. Saturday.
