Bolles invited to Harlon Hill Banquet

MARYVILLE, Mo. — The voting has concluded for the NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year Award and Northwest Missouri State senior quarterback Blake Bolles has been invited to attend the 25th Annual Harlon Hill Trophy Presentation Banquet as one of the top three place finishers.

The banquet is set for Friday, Dec. 17, in Florence, Ala., prior to the NCAA Division II Football Championship Game on Dec. 18. The banquet coincides with the Division II Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which this year includes Northwest head football coach Mel Tjeerdsma.

A native of Lincoln, Neb., Bolles is the first player in program history to be invited to the banquet and third Bearcat to be placed on the national ballot. He’ll be joined in Florence by senior quarterbacks Zach Amedro of West Liberty University and Eric Czerniewski of the University of Central Missouri.

Of the nine Harlon Hill finalists placed on this year’s ballot, Bolles is the lone student-athlete whose team remains in the hunt for a national title. Bolles led the Bearcats to their third national championship last season when he set MIAA single-season records for passing yards and passing touchdowns. He’s 26-2 in his career as a starter and is unbeaten, 7-0, in the NCAA playoffs.

Bolles is the leading passer in Northwest history. He’s thrown for 8,527 yards and a program-record 78 touchdowns. His collegiate passing efficiency of 163.0 is one of the best in Division II history. Add in his 16 career rushing touchdowns and Bolles has accounted for 94 total scores.

Amedro is the leading passer in NCAA Division II history and has been invited to the banquet for the second year in a row. He’s thrown for 14,733 yards during his four-year career. This season, he passed for 4,058 yards and 38 touchdowns in 10 games.

Czerniewski is the leading passer in MIAA history and this season, he broke Division II’s single-season record for passing yards with 5,207. Czerniewski averaged 372 yards passing and 48 pass attempts per game. He threw 46 touchdowns in 14 games.

The other finalists were Bo Cordell (Tusculum), Mitchell Gale (Abilene Christian), Clay Garcia (Colorado-Mines), Nick Hardesty (Henderson State), Phil Milbrath (Michigan Tech) and Franklyn Quiteh (Bloomsburg).

Candidates for the 2010 Hill Trophy were nominated by the sports information directors at their respective schools and those nominated were then reviewed by the Hill Regional Advisory Committees, which trimmed the list of candidates.