Niles, Martin, Williams, Bever named All-North Region by D3Football.com
By Tim Glon
| D3football.com All-Region Team | D3football.com All-North Region Team (.pdf) |
ADA — Senior All-American Mark Niles (Miramar, Fla.), junior Brock Martin (Attica/Seneca East), junior All-American Christiaan Williams (Sidney/Anna) and freshman Josh Bever (Ashland) have been named All-North Region in 2019 by D3football.com.
Niles was named to the First Team, Martin and Williams were Second Team picks and Bever was a Third Team honoree.
Niles will now go onto the D3football.com All-America ballot.
Niles was named Second team All-America earlier this year by the American Football Coaches Association.
He is a three-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference honoree and received the Gene Slaughter Award as the league's most valuable linebacker.
He was named First Team All-OAC in 2019 and 2018 and Second Team All-Conference in 2017.
Niles led the league in tackles for the second consecutive year in 2019, averaging 11.9 per game, which was more than two tackles per game better then his closest competitor.
He had 95 tackles in just eight games this year and ended his career ranked ninth all-time in ONU history with 268 tackles in 26 games.
Martin is a two-time All-OAC honoree, earning First Team honors as a return specialist this season and Second Team honors as a running back as a freshman in 2018.
He has started all 20 games in his two seasons at Ohio Northern.
This year, he returned 20 kickoffs for 424 yards and ran 42 times for 161 yards and two touchdowns for 858 all-purpose yards.
In his career, Martin has 917 yards rushing, 441 yards in kickoff returns and 1,422 all-purpose yards.
Williams became ONU's all-time career rushing leader this season, having gained 4,197 yards in just 29 career games. He passed the previous record of 4,169 by All-American and former NFL standout Jamal Robertson from 1997-2000.
He leads the OAC in rushing with 1,362 yards and an average of 136.2 yards per game this season after missing last season with a knee injury.
Williams is a three-time First Team All-OAC honoree and was named Second Team All-America as a sophomore in 2017.
He also owns the a school record by rushing for 100 or more yards in 25 of his 29 career contests.
Bever was named First Team All-OAC as a defensive end after leading the league with 10.5 sacks, 16 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles.
He was third on the team with 54 tackles overall in 10 games.
The Polar Bears finished the season 6-4 overall and were tied for third in the OAC with a 6-3 league mark under 16th-year head coach Dean Paul.
ONU also clinched its 23rd upper division OAC finish in the past 25 seasons.