SELINSGROVE, Pa. - The Susquehanna University offensive line has been honored for the third time in as many seasons, as the unit has been selected to the D3football.com Team of the Week for the weekend of September 22-23.
The line of senior left tackle Randy Zook (Belleville, Pa./Indian Valley H.S.), junior left guard Jason Tomko (Emmaus, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic H.S.), center Dave Wonderlick (Shenandoah, Pa./Shenandoah Valley H.S.), senior right guard Randy Hayes (Fogelsville, Pa./Parkland H.S.) and junior right tackle Rob Acheson (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown H.S.) combined to lead the Crusaders to a 24-13 win over Dickinson on Saturday afternoon.
They gave sophomore quarterback Mike Bowman plenty of time to throw for a career-high 306 yards and a touchdown, and cleared plenty of room for the running backs to accumulate 165 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Out of 39 non-quarterback running plays, the Crusaders gained positive yards on 36 of them.
The Crusader offensive line was saluted by D3football.com last season after Susquehanna recorded 285 yards rushing, 28 first downs and 37:28 of possession in a 27-7 win at Juniata on October 9. The Juniata defense was ranked 11th in NCAA Division III against the rush (61.8 yards per game) entering the game.
Two years ago, the Middle Atlantic Conference placed the line on its weekly Honor Roll as it helped Susquehanna set a modern (since 1983) MAC record for single-game rushing with a school record 455 yards in a 48-3 romp at Lebanon Valley on October 10, 1998. Hayes and Zook were members of the line on all three occasions.
Susquehanna (3-0 overall) will battle fellow unbeaten Wilkes (3-0) in a crucial MAC contest at Nicholas A. Lopardo Stadium on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
