Eleven Yellow Jackets earn All-HCAC Football Honors

CARMEL, Ind. – Eleven Defiance College football players received recognition by the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference for the league's annual All-Conference Awards, the HCAC announced on Thursday. Among the honorees, four players garnered their fourth All-HCAC honors along with four two-time award winners and three first-time all-conference performers.

First Team All-HCAC selections from Defiance are defenders Thomas Coltrain (Leslie, Mich./Leslie) and Richard Pope IV (Daytona Beach, Fla./Atlantic), each adding to their career totals of First Team awards. DC's Second Team All-HCAC selections are running back Tyshaun Freeman (Macon, Ga./Westside), offensive lineman Eric Moultrie Jr. (Chicago, Ill./South Gwinnett), defensive end Dominic Harris (Detroit, Mich./Southeastern), defensive back V'Sean Palmer (Dayton, Ohio/Thurgood Marshall), and wide receiver/returner Tawann Rome (Grayson, La./Arabia Mountain). Three other players received All-HCAC Honorable Mention: quarterback Jordan Ambrose (Tomball, Texas/Klein), punter Mathew Bolanos (Long Beach, Calif./Temescal Canyon), offensive lineman Gabriel Bookman (Vincent, Ohio/Warren) and place kicker Zeke Sanchez (Indianapolis, Ind./Warren Central).

Coltrain was named First Team All-HCAC for the fourth time after a career-high 100 tackles this season, which was tied for the most in the conference. His fifth season included five games with double-digit tackles, a career-high 19 tackles on November 4 versus Rose-Hulman, and a 95-yard fumble recovery touchdown to set a program record for the longest fumble return at Anderson on October 21. The Michigan native finished his career at Defiance with 357 tackles in 43 games, the third-highest total in program history. As for solo tackles, Coltrain set a new bar with 223 individual stops.

Pope's First Team All-HCAC award is his third and fourth overall all-conference recognition. The defensive end led the program with eight sacks for the second year in a row, which was fourth-most in the conference. The senior's 25 career sacks rank second-most in Yellow Jacket history. Pope also made 53 tackles and 16 tackles for loss, each career-best totals.

Freeman, a 237-pound senior tailback, had his finest season in purple and gold with 976 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns. Each of his rushing totals were third-best in the conference to pick up Second Team All-HCAC for the second time to go with three other all-conference awards. Freeman's 2,603 rushing yards rank third in program history while 23 rushing touchdowns are tied for fourth.

Harris, a sophomore defensive end, had a breakout campaign on the edge with seven sacks and 59 total tackles while starting every game. Along with finishing fifth in the conference in sacks, he also forced three fumbles and broke up two passes during the campaign en route to his first all-conference award.

DC's senior center, Moultrie Jr., earned Second Team All-HCAC for the fourth year in a row. He started all 10 games at center and anchored a group that cleared the way for the most rushing yards per game (202.7) by the Yellow Jackets since 1993.

Palmer and Rome each received Second Team All-HCAC for the second consecutive season. After picking off three passes as a junior, Palmer's senior season led to a career-best 49 tackles starting with 13 during the first week against Mount Union. Rome was recognized for prowess in the return game where he produced 301 yards on kicks and punts to lead Defiance in both categories, and was limited to just six punt returns as teams tried to avoid the junior's breakaway speed.

Ambrose and Sanchez each pick up their second straight honorable mention awards after starting all 10 games in his final season at DC. The quarterback from Texas completed 55 percent of his throws for 1,842 yards, 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He was a major threat running the ball as well to total 589 rushing yards, the most by a DC quarterback since Rick Powell ran for 992 in 2010, and ran in seven more scores. Ambrose's dual-threat skills produced the program's first quarterback to throw for 1,500 yards and run for 500 in the same season. Sanchez converted 4-of-6 field goal tries and made a career-best 30-of-39 extra points. His 42 kicking points ranked sixth in the HCAC and sixth-most for a single season in the program's history.

Bolanos and Bookman round out Defiance's awards as first-time All-HCAC performers as Honorable Mention. Bolanos, a junior, averaged 38.3 yards per punt, tied for fourth in the conference. He booted the ball 41 times and landed 12 inside the 20. His longest punt was a 68-yard drive in the first week of the season that had him as the nation's leading punter after the first week of the year. Bookman is a sophomore and started at right tackle for every game this year. One of three lineman to make every start, Bookman was part of an offensive front that protected and produced for the highest total offensive production since 1988 (3,954 total yards).

The 2023 Yellow Jackets finished 4-6 and 3-4 in the HCAC, earning the most victories since a 5-5 2016 season. Over the last two seasons, Defiance has 23 All-HCAC performers and won seven games after a total of seven wins between 2017-21. The next chapter of Yellow Jacket football will take place as a member of the NAIA next fall.

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