Four Flyers earn first-team honors

St. Paul quarterback Eric Schwieterman breaks into the open field for one of his 11 touchdown runs in the regular season in a Week 9 win over New London. The junior quarterback was named the Tri-Offensive Player of the Year in Division VI.

NORWALK – The St. Paul Flyers broke several school records during the 2008 season on their way to an unbeaten regular season while reaching a fifth consecutive Division VI regional championship game.

As a by-product, four Flyers were selected to the Division VI All-Ohio first team Tuesday, including the Tri-Offensive Player of the Year. A fifth player was named to the second team.

“It’s a credit to them and how hard they work,” St. Paul head coach John Livengood said. “A lot of that success and accolades coming their way are the result of the entire team doing a great job.”

It’s the second time in school history four players were named to the first team, joining the 1997 team that was the first in school history to reach the Division VI state championship game.

Leading the way this year once again was junior quarterback Eric Schwieterman, who shares Offensive Player of the Year honors with quarterbacks Tyler Brown (Hopewell-Loudon) and Tyler Tucci (Malvern).

Schwieterman completed 79 of 111 passes for 1,542 yards with 18 touchdowns and three interceptions while rushing for 786 yards and 11 touchdowns on 60 attempts. Five of the rushing touchdowns were 60 yards or longer, while the junior did not attempt a second-half pass in seven of 10 regular-season wins because his team was leading by large margins at halftime en route to averaging 51 points per game in the regular season.

Joining him on the first team are teammates Matt Wilde (running back), Jacob Rhoad (defensive line) and Geoff Hainline (linebacker).

Wilde ran for 1,048 yards and 19 touchdowns in the regular season on just 96 attempts and caught two touchdown passes and returned three kickoffs for touchdowns, which is a school record. The Flyer offense scored 621 points in 13 games this season and totaled up 6,014 yards of offense, both of which are new school records while the 621 points will unofficially rank 10th all-time in Ohio history.

Meanwhile, the Flyer defense also tied a school record with three consecutive shutouts and allowed 123 points total for the season, good for a 9.5 points per game average. A big part of that was spearheaded by Rhoad and Hainline, as Rhoad had 75 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, eight quarterback hurries, five sacks, three fumble recoveries and three pass breakups.

Hainline was just as impressive in leading the team in tackles and sacks with 120 and eight each, respectively. He also added 14 tackles for loss, one fumble recovery, 15 quarterback hurries and an interception.

Wilde, Rhoad and Hainline were all seniors this past season. Also for the Flyers, senior offensive tackle Shawn Hemenway was named to the second team for a second straight season.

“For those seniors, this is a great acknowledgment to the hard work they’ve put in over the years,” Livengood said.”