2023 All-NCAC Football Release
The College of Wooster's Lake Barrett is the first Fighting Scot to earn the North Coast Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Year award, while junior Brazos Gadler joined the five-year placekicker on the all-conference first-team as a returner. Gadler, at receiver, senior Bryce Kamphues, and sophomore Tate Journell were second-team All-NCAC selections, while junior Jon Banal and senior Domenic DeMuth rounded out this year's honorees as third-team selection.
Barrett, Wooster's first NCAC major award winner since 2017, earned all-conference laurels for the fourth time. The senior is Wooster's eighth player to earn All-NCAC football honors in four separate seasons, and this is his first first-team selection. Barrett was the lone primary placekicker league-wide to not miss an extra point kick this fall, finishing 43-for-43 for a third straight season with a perfect percentage. In field goals, Barrett led the NCAC with an 80-percent success rate, going 8-for-10 and matching his career-long with a 42-yard field goal at Wittenberg University. Barrett became Wooster's all-time leader in field goals and graduates with 29. The biology and education major's 99.4 (155-for-156) career extra-point percentage is the highest in program history, while he is second all-time in extra-point makes (155) and fifth in scoring (242 points). Barrett is the first placekicker in program history to earn four All-NCAC honors.
Gadler's success as a returner helped the junior rank second league-wide in all-purpose yards at 146 per game. He led the NCAC with 557 kickoff returns yards and was third at 24.2 yards per return. As a receiver, Gadler's 821 yards are currently tops in the NCAC, while he is in the top-eight league-wide in receptions (49) and yards per reception (16.8). Gadler posted top-10 program marks in receiving yards and all-purpose yards this fall. He had four 100-yard games, with a season-high 146 coming at Wilmington College. In conference play, Gadler's statistical performances were headlined by a 7-catch, 130-yard evening at Ohio Wesleyan University, which included a 79-yard touchdown reception.
Kamphues, Wooster's starting center, led a line that helped the team average 237 passing yards and 139 rushing yards per game, with the rushing output ranking as the team's top mark since 2014. The education and history major, who started all 30 career games, plus the two exhibition contests, during his career, was part of a banner day versus Kenyon College, where Wooster scored 70 points, the fourth-most in program history in the current scoring era. In that game, Wooster rolled up 627 yards of offense, the most since 2005, while the team's 308 rushing yards were the most since a 2014 game against Allegheny College.
Journell, a starting wide receiver and cornerback, earned all-conference honors for his play on defense, where he was a two-time NCAC Defensive Athlete of the Week this fall. Journell's four interceptions rank second within the NCAC and were the most by a Scot since Tyson Vogel and special teams All-American Brandon James had five each in 2013. Journell added four breakups and 31 tackles to his statistics haul, with six of the stops coming in the season finale versus Wittenberg. Journell had two interceptions at Denison University and broke up a game-tying two-point conversion try in the final minute of Wooster's 24-22 win over The University of Olivet in September.
Banal, a linebacker, ranked second on the team with 56 tackles and finished the regular season with 10 tackles for loss, a total tops on the team. Banal had five breakups, an interception, and a forced fumble on the year. The junior singlehandedly disrupted Denison quarterback Jimmy Stines on every rollout in a mid-October conference clash and finished that game with nine tackles, matching a season-high. Banal opened the year with nine tackles, including three for loss, at Wilmington, while he had 2.5 tackles for loss in Wooster's win over Kenyon.
DeMuth, a defensive lineman, ranked third on the team with 51 tackles and was in the team's top-two with seven tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. DeMuth's high of tackles was nine, coming against Olivet, and he had a key sack and fumble recovery in that win. DeMuth added a sack at Wabash College and had two tackles for loss that afternoon.
Wooster went 4-6 this fall with a 3-5 mark in NCAC play.