Elliott, Pettaway lead list of seven Polar Bears named All-OAC in Football in 2024
By Tim Glon
| 2024 All-OAC Football Team (.pdf) |
ADA — Seven Ohio Northern football players were named All-Ohio Athletic Conference in football for 2024 in voting conducted by the league's 10 head coaches.
Senior Jonmichael Elliott (Richmond, Va./Clover Hill) and sophomore Jordan Pettaway (Oregon/Clay) were named First Team All-OAC.
Seniors Connor Rowe (Mantua/Crestwood) and All-American Dalton Tjong (Cumming, Ga./West Forsyth) and junior Myles Aldrich (Lima/Shawnee) were all Second Team selections.
Senior Mikey Moon (Wickliffe) and junior Louie Blasiole (Mantua/Crestwood) earned Honorable Mention All-Conference accolades.
Elliott is also a two-time Academic All-Conference honoree and has been named OAC Special Teams Player of the Week three times in his career.
A three-year starter at punter, Elliott averaged 39.7 yards per punt, which leaves him third all-time in ONU history.
This season, he was third in the OAC with an average of 41.3 yards per punt and impressively had no touchbacks on 47 punts.
He also scored 63 points, going 8-for-9 on field goals, 39-for-41 on extra points and ran in a 2-point conversion.
In his career, Elliott was 14-for-18 on field goals, 68-for-70 on extra points and scored 110 points.
Pettaway became just the 18th Polar Bear to rush for 1,000 yards in a season, carrying 121 times for 1,003 yards.
He was second in the OAC in rushing with his 1003 yards and is second in the OAC and third in the nation with an average of 8.3 yards per attempt.
Pettaway led the nation with an average of 33.4 yards per kickoff return and is 10th nationally with 1,525 all-purpose yards this season.
In his two seasons at Ohio Northern, Pettaway ranks 22nd all-time in ONU history with 1,479 rushing yards and is averaging a school-record 8.4 career yards pr carry.
He was named the OAC Offensive Player of the Week twice this season.
Rowe led the team with 5.5 sacks and was second with 11.5 TFL this season from his defensive end position.
He was also sixth with 37 tackles and had a fumble recovery this season.
Rowe s also a three-time Academic All-OAC honoree.
In 32 career games, Rowe finished with 105 tackles (40 solo), 10 sacks and 23 TFL.
Tjong is now a three-time All-Conference honoree at safety, earning First Team honors last season and Second Team kudos as a sophomore in 2022.
He was named 2nd Team All-America by the Associated Press and 4th Team All-America by D3football.com in 2023.
Tjong led the Polar Bears in tackles in each of the past three seasons and totaled 85 tackles (39 solo) and an interception this year.
In 39 games at ONU, Tjong wrapped up his career with 376 total tackles, which ranks second in program history, to go with 7.0 tackles for loss, seven interceptions, two forced fumbles and 17 pass breakups.
He is also a three-time OAC Defensive Player of the Week honoree.
Aldrich was third on the team with 54 tackles and led the team with 12.5 TFL from his linebacker position.
He will enter his senior season in 2025 with 129 tackles, 6.0 sacks and 24.0 TFL in his 23-game career.
Moon is also a two-year starter at linebacker and fourth on the team with 51 tackles (14 solo) this season.
He had 4 sacks and 9.5 TFL to go with one interception this year.
Moon ended his career with 121 tackles (27 solo), 4.5 sacks and 13.5 TFL.
Blasiole is a two-year starter at running back and is also an Academic All-OAC honoree.
This season, Blasiole was third in the OAC with 881 yards on 188 carries.
He will enter his senior season ranked 24th all-time in ONU history with 1,461 career rushing yards.
The Polar Bears finished their season 5-5 overall and posted an upper division in the 10-team OAC by tying for fifth with a 4-5 league mark under first-year head coach Andy Fries.