Woodard, Zitzmann head Hounds on Northeast-10 all-stars

    SOUTH EASTON, Mass. --- Assumption College junior running back HERBERT WOODARD (Bridgton, N.J./Salem) has been selected the 2009 Northeast-10 Offensive Player-of-the-Year in a vote of the conference coaches.  And, senior middle linebacker DUSTIN ZITZMANN (Pinellas Park, FL/Dixie Hollins) shared the Defensive Player-of-the-Year honor with Bentley University senior linebacker Matt Zahoruiko.
    Woodard, the 2007 Northeast-10 Conference Freshman-of-the-Year rushed for a league-leading 1,175 yards and as he helped the Greyhounds to one of the most improved records in the nation---the team finished 6-4 this past season after a 1-9 campaign a year ago. He recorded 17 rushing touchdowns and a school-record 18 overall (to lead the conference as its lone 100-point scorer with 108) and also tied the season mark with seven 100-yard rushing games.  In addition, he was also named to the first all-star team for the second straight year.
    Woodard finished with 1,247 yards of total offense (second on the team, ninth in conference) and 1,394 yards of all-purpose offense (led the team, fourth in the conference).  He also caught 25 passes for 160 yards and had five punt returns for an 11.8 per return average.
    Zitzmann, a four-time all-Northeast-10 Conference selection, finished the year fourth in the conference with 45-68--113 tackles.  He finished his career with the most tackles in school history with 414 outdistancing Hound Hall of Fame linebacker Bill Guilfoil (1990, 92-94) (409) in the last game of the season.  He earned first-team status for the second straight year after earning second-team as both a freshman and a sophomore.  He is the first player in Hounds history to record three 100-tackle seasons.
    Zitzmann recorded 12.0 tackles-for-loss (53 yards), had three quarterback sacks (29 yards), four break-ups, six passes defended, five quarterback hurries, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles.  He also had two interceptions and against American International (11/7/09) returned one a team-record tying 99 yards.
    Joining Woodard and Zitzmann on the first team was junior offensive tackle MATT SIDEBOTTOM (Franklin, MA/Franklin, while junior defensive tackle MIKE FOLEY (Holden, MA/Saint John’s) earned second team honors.  Foley finished with 20-21--41 tackles (fourth on the team) with 6.5 tackles-for-loss (24 yards), 4.0 quarterback sacks (18 yards) and five hurries.  Sidebottom earned second-team honors in 2008 as well while this is Foley’s first appearance on the all-star teams.
    Freshman punter/placekicker CORY KEMPS (Carmel, IN/Carmel) recorded the rare trifecta earning second-team offense honors as the placekicker, second-team defense honors as the punter and also earned a spot on the all-rookie team.   Kemps averaged 35.6 yards per punt (fourth in the conference) with 13 inside-the-20, two touchbacks and three over 50 yards.  His kickoff average was 59.0 yards with four touchbacks.  Offensively, he kicked a team-record seven field goals including two over 40 yards (43, 44) and made 33-of-36 conversion points en route to a team-record (for a kicker) 54 points (third among kickers in the conference).