LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – After sweeping
through the regular season with an 8-1 record, including a perfect
3-0 conference mark, Texas Lutheran University was rewarded with a
near sweep of the league’s major awards in exclusive
all-conference voting by the head coaches of the Southern
Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). Complete Release
The Bulldogs’ Brent Peavy was selected as SCAC Offensive
Player-of-the-Year while teammate Bradley Snowden was named
Defensive Player-of-the-Year. Additionally, TLU’s Tyler Figol
was voted the league’s Newcomer-of-the-Year while Bulldog
head coach Danny Padron was selected SCAC Coach-of-the-Year.
TLU’s Tyler Brandenburg shared Special Teams
Player-of-the-Year honors with Trinity University’s Matthew
Kennemer, who also won the award last season.
Brent Peavy, a 5-10, 207-pound senior quarterback from Houston,
Texas, led the SCAC in almost every passing category en route to
setting new Texas Lutheran single-season school records for total
offense (2,873) and touchdown passes (28). He also tied a school
single-game record with six TD passes against East Texas Baptist on
Oct. 5. Peavy threw only eight interceptions all season in 295
attempts, and set a new school record for single-season completion
percentage (66.8). At the conclusion of the regular season, TLU was
fourth in DIII in total offense (521.2), eighth in scoring offense
(46.1) and ninth in passing offense (326.7), and, individually,
Peavy was 15th in completion percentage, ninth in passing
efficiency (165.7), eighth in passing TDs, 13th in passing yards
per game (285.0) and 15th in total offense. Peavy is the first
quarterback to win SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year since 2008
when Millsaps College’s Juan Joseph won the third of his
three consecutive OPOTY awards.
Bradley Snowden, a 5-11, 215-pound senior linebacker from Houston,
Tex., was the field general of the Texas Lutheran defense,
recording 65 total tackles (second on team; sixth in SCAC),
including 7.0 tackles for loss of 34 yards (second on team; tied
for ninth in SCAC). A defensive team captain and a three-year
starter, Snowden also had 2.5 sacks for 22 yards, two fumble
recoveries, three pass breakups and two QB hurries. He was as
durable as he was consistent, never missing a game in his 39-game
career, which included 29 consecutive starts. Snowden’s
selection as SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year represents the sixth
consecutive year that a linebacker has won or shared the
league’s top defensive honor.
Tyler Figol, a 5-1, 185-pound freshman receiver from New
Braunfels, Texas, finished as the Bulldogs’ third-leading
receiver despite missing the last four games due to injury. The
freshman caught 24 passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns, and
was second among all first-year players in receiving yards per game
(72.6). Figol did his best work in conference competition, snagging
18 passes for 299 yards and three TDs. His 6.0 receptions per game
during league play tied for the second-most in the SCAC and his
yards receiving and TD receptions in SCAC action ranked third among
all receivers. Figol is just the second receiver and first since
2007 to earn SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year honors.
Tyler Brandenburg, a 6-2, 210-pound junior placekicker and punter
from Spring, Texas, made eight consecutive field goals for Texas
Lutheran to end season, finishing the year with a league-high 12
makes on 17 attempts (70.6%) and a long of 40 yards. His 12 field
goals are tied for the seventh-most in a SCAC single-season and he
was sixth in the nation in field goals made per game (1.3) at the
conclusion of the regular season. Brandenburg, who twice made three
field goals in a game, was successful on 49 for 50 on extra-point
attempts and was ranked 36th in NCAA DIII in scoring (9.4 points
per game) at the end of the regular season. Also the team's
starting punter and kickoff specialist, Brandenburg averaged 35.5
yards per punt with a long of 57 and eight attempts ended inside
the 20.
Matthew Kennemer, a 5-11, 185-pound junior kick/punt returner and
punter from Friendswood, Texas, did a little bit of everything for
Trinity during the 2013 season. Kennemer led both his team and the
SCAC in punt return yardage (194) and kick return yardage (438),
and was also 18 of 21 on PATs (third in the SCAC) and 3 of 6 on
field goal attempts. He was third in the SCAC in scoring (51
points) and also finished fourth in the SCAC in receiving yards
(666) and receiving yards per game (66.6). Kennemer, who also won
this honor in 2012, is the fourth player from Trinity to be honored
as the SCAC Special Teams Player-of-the-Year, but the first to win
the award more than once. He is the fourth player in conference
history to win multiple Special Teams POTY honors, joining Brian
Britt of Centre College (1999-2001), Jamarcus Shephard of DePauw
University (2003-2004) and Michael Galatas of Millsaps College
(2008-2010).
Texas Lutheran head coach Danny Padron led his Bulldogs to an 8-1
overall mark and a perfect 3-0 conference record in the
team’s first season in the SCAC. Texas Lutheran finished the
regular season ranked 22nd in the nation (AFCA), TLU's highest
ranking since being 16th in the NAIA Division I Football Top 20 on
Nov. 7, 1984. The SCAC championship was the University’s
first-ever football conference championship. Padron, who inherited
a program that went 0-10 in 2009, has amassed a 21-18 record in his
four years at the helm in Seguin. The Coach-of-the-Year honor is
the first for Padron at the collegiate level, but not the first of
his career. He was named the San Antonio Express-News
“San Antonio Area” Coach of the Year in 2003 as the
head coach at Sandra Day O’Connor High School where he went
65-30 in eight seasons.
To read the complete 2013 All-SCAC Football Team release, click
here.