Bryce Hayes
SEGUIN, Texas — #RV Texas Lutheran Football had 22 players earn 2024 All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) recognition from the conference’s coaches and sports information directors, the league announced on Tuesday. Caden Bosanko (San Antonio/East Central) was selected the conference’s Co-Offensive Player of the Year, Cameron Welch (New Braunfels/Canyon) was chosen as Special Teams Player of the Year, and head coach Neal LaHue was named SCAC Coach of the Year. Twelve Bulldogs were selected to the All-SCAC First Team and nine were named All-SCAC honorable mention.
Bosanko and Welch were also named First Team All-SCAC along with placekicker Joaquin Rodriguez (San Antonio/Smithson Valley), defensive lineman DJ Lewis (Brookshire/Brazos), offensive linemen Jaxson Eskridge (Crandall/Crandall), Joshua Walker (San Antonio/Veterans Memorial), and Ian Wollard (Round Rock/Cedar Ridge), linebacker Grayson Kowalski (Sabinal/Sabinal), running back Weston Guzman (McAllen/McAllen), safeties Troy Tomaselli (San Antonio/Cornerstone Christian) and Mason Hardy (Flynn/Normangee), wide receiver Caleb Camarillo (San Antonio/Southside), and tight end Cole Andrus (Jourdanton/Jourdanton).
Bosanko led a group on the All-SCAC First Team in what has been a decorated first full season as the full-time starting quarterback. Bosanko is the first Bulldog to win a conference Offensive Player of the Year honor since Marquis Barrolle in 2016. Bosanko finished second in the conference in passing yards (1,848) and fourth in rushing yards (646) and led the SCAC in scoring with 14 rushing touchdowns. A three-time Offensive Player-of-the-Week during the regular season, including in Weeks 7 and 10 when he had four rushing TDs in each contest that Saturday, the junior completed 144 of 245 passes (58.8 percent) for 10 touchdowns and had a 131.5 passing efficiency rating. Bosanko continues TLU’s run of student-athletes who have won or shared SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year honors as a Bulldog has received recognition each of the last five years the award has been bestowed (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2024). Entering the NCAA Division-III Championship Tournament, Bosanko needs two rushing touchdowns to match the single-season record set by David Wehmeyer in 1971.
Welch was named Special Teams Player of the Year for the first time in his career. Welch led the SCAC with an average of 44.5 yards per punt during the regular season, which was second-best in the nation. His current average would break the previous Texas Lutheran program record of 43.0 yards held by Harold Anderson since 1962 and is just behind the SCAC’s all-time single season mark of 44.9 yards per kick set by Bob Burwell of Rose-Hulman in 1978. Entering the NCAA Tournament, Welch also owns the program’s career punting average record at 40.5 yards, passing Dillon Koop’s (2010-13) previous mark of 39.7. The senior, who was a two-time SCAC Special Teams Player-of-the-Week during the 2024 season, placed 13 of his 34 punts inside the 20-yard line with just one touchback all season. With opponents mustering just 55 return yards, Texas Lutheran currently leads the nation in net punting at 42.26 yards per kick. Welch is the second Bulldog to earn SCAC Special Teams Player-of-the-Year honors, following former TLU placekicker Tyler Brandenburg, who received the accolade following the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
Texas Lutheran head coach Neal LaHue, in his third season at the helm of the Bulldog program, led TLU to a 9-1 overall mark (7-1 in conference) and a regular season SCAC cochampionship – the program’s fourth since joining the conference in 2013. Texas Lutheran will make its second NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and first since 2014, when the Bulldogs travel to McMinnville, Oregon, to take on No. 14 Linfield on Saturday. With the first-round bye, the Bulldogs have already surpassed the 2014 team for the deepest postseason run in program history. TLU finished the season ranked number 26 in the NCAA NPI rankings, which dictated the qualifiers for the postseason tournament, as well as receiving votes in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top 25 Poll. The LaHue led Bulldogs featured a balanced attack this season that is averaging a SCAC-leading 35.9 points per game and 404.8 yards per game in total offense while allowing just 15.9 points per game. LaHue is the second Texas Lutheran coach to earn SCAC Football Coach-of-the-Year, joining Danny Padron who won the award three times (2013-15).
Joaquin Rodriguez earns First Team honors following a regular season that twice saw him named to the D3football.com Team of the Week. In the regular season finale, Rodriguez moved into a tie for fifth in program history in field goals made with 25 in his career, including a 10-for-13 mark this season. The trio of offensive linemen named to the All-SCAC First Team led the Bulldogs to just the fourth two thousand yard rushing season in the program’s Division-III history as the Bulldogs offense currently ranks 20th in NCAA Division-III in rushing offense with an average of 212.6 yards per game. Caleb Camarillo led the Bulldogs with 684 yards receiving and six touchdowns. The 684 receiving yards are the most for a Bulldogs receiver since Charles Robinson Jr.’s 688 yard season in 2018. Troy Tomaselli and Grayson Kowalski led the Bulldogs defensively with 56 and 53 tackles respectively with Tomaselli tallying a team-high four interceptions on the year.
The Bulldogs that were honorable mention were Cam Ross (OL) (Dallas/Rockwall), Ryker Purdy (RB) (New Braunfels/New Braunfels), Eugene Robinson IV (Ret) (Lake Charles, LA/Fort Bend Hightower), Cayleb Klostermann (WR) (Lyford/Lyford), Kaleb Hamilton (DL) (New Orleans, LA/Round Rock (TX)), Tristan Smith (LB) (New Braunfels/Canyon), Tyler Ward (LB) (Woodway/Bishop Louis Reicher), Justin Navarro (DB) (Edinburg/Robert Vela), and Marec Square (Houston/Lamar).
The Bulldogs led the conference with 13 players named to the first team, followed by McMurry and Centenary with eight players each. McMurry topped the conference with 23 combined honorees with TLU finishing second at 22 honorees.
Texas Lutheran will face 14th-ranked Linfield on Saturday, Nov. 30 in the second round of the NCAA Division-III Championship Tournament. Kickoff is set for 2 PM CT / 12 PM PT from Maxwell Field and Memorial Stadium and will air nationally on ESPN+.
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