BEREA, OHIO — The Northeastern Ohio Chapter of the National Football Foundation will honor Baldwin-Wallace College senior punter Kevin Soflkiancs (Middleburg Heights) as a national scholar-athlete at its annual awards banquet on Monday, April 28, 2008 at the LaCente in Westlake. 

 

FOR TICKET INFORMATION, please call NEO NFF President Tim Gleason in the Ohio Athletic Conference office at 330-259-9090 or e-mail Tim at twg@oac.org.

 

Soflkiancs , a 2004 graduate of Middleburg Heights Midpark High School , is a three-time Division III All-American (2004, 2006 and 2007) and two-time ESPN THE MAGAZINE Academic All-American punter. He is a two-time Division III national punting champion (2004 and 2006). He recently (Feb. 18, 2008) the Cleveland Touchdown Club Charities Scholar-Athlete award and was a candidate for the Woody Hayes National Scholar-Athlete Award.

 

Soflkiancs is the first Ohio Athletic Conference football player to ever be a four-time first-team All-OAC player in the 105-year history of the league. He also is a four-time first-team All-North Region pick, a three-time All-Academic All-OAC and three-time ESPN THE MAGAZINE Academic All-District IV selection, the 2006 Division III Gilburg Award winner as the nation’s best punter, a seven-time OAC Special Teams Player of the Week and the four-time winner of the B-W Most Valuable Special Teams Award winner.

 

This season (2007), Soflkiancs punted 45 times for 1,936 yards for a single-season school-record and OAC-leading 43.0-yard average. The average also ranked in a tie for second in Division III. His longest punt of 63 yards came in the season-opener against perennial Div. III national power Augustana (Ill.) College. During his career, Soflkiancs led the OAC in punting four straight years and had a B-W career-record 42.0-yard average that included a career-long punt of 70 yards (set as a freshman against John Carroll University). In 197 career punts for 8,270 yards, he dropped 51 inside the opponents 20-yard line. In 2004, Soflkiancs also set a single-game school and Finnie Stadium-record by averaging 51.0 yards per punt in a game against Otterbein College.

 

Soflkiancs is an outstanding student who carries a 3.72 grade point average and is currently working toward his Master’s of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in accounting. He is a member of the Dean’s List and the Alpha Lambda Honor Society.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION , please contact B-W Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX machine at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu .To contact Head Coach John Snell , please call him in the office at 440-826-2069 or reach him via e-mail at jsnell@bw.edu . You can get all of the latest B-W athletics information by visiting our Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics.