20 'Cats named to All-NWC team.

2009 ALL-NWC Football Team

I don't think this blog had anything to do with it but the NWC coaches did a great job in bring back some great shine to the All-Conference team by limiting the 1st team offense to 12 players (11 position players and 1 specialist). The defense still had a few too many, but the 15 total defenders (14 position players, 1 specialist) is a step in the right direction. It has to be a tough decision but it's the right decision for the coaches to make. This the best of our best and I applaud them for the make up of the 2009 All-Conference team.

Head Coach Joe Smith was named NWC Coach of the Year and Quarterback Aaron Boehme was awarded NWC Offensive Player of the Year. Both are well deserving and in speaking to them I'm sure they both would say that the honor is just a reflection of the success of the team. IMO, these are sweet for different reasons for the both of them.

Coach Smith took over the program at the last second before the 2006 season and had folks knocking him in terms of the direction of the program. Coach Smith was my position coach when I was a player and I had complete faith from day one that he would get the 'Cats back to this stage. I know he wanted to get back to the playoffs sooner but it wasn't meant to be. Now, I really feel the identity of the program is reflective of his personality in terms of their aggressive nature on both sides of the ball and the overall discipline of the program. He was and is the right person for the job and I feel this is the first of many NWC Coach of the Year honors for Coach Smith.

For Aaron Boehme, this has to be sweet. We all know the story already with Aaron suffering a bad injury that cut short his 2008 season. This has been a season of watching him come into his own. He's a leader and a talent.

Linfield and Willamette led the way with 20 All-Conference selections each. The breakdown for Linfield goes: 9 1st team selections, 4 2nd team selections, 7 Honorable Mentions

1st Teamers:
QB-Aaron Boehme
RB - Aaron Williams
OL-Jordan Barnes
OL-Scott Millenbach
WR-Trevor Patterson
DL-Paul Nishizaki
LB-Jaymin Jackson
LB- Alex Tkachuk
DB-Drew Fisher

2nd Teamers:
WR-Chris Slezak
DL-Eric Hedin
LB-Paul Partlow
DB-Kole Krieger

Honorable Mentions:
OL-Chris Buck
WR-Gunnar Cederberg
DL-Ian Estrada
OL-Aaron Heston
OL-Kyle Otineru
TE-Russell Sells
DB-Taylor Skore

Congrats to the Linfield players for the honors and while these are fun, they are ultimately a reflection of the hard work the entire program puts into the season. From the scout team players busting their butts pushing the 1st team offense, to the guys that may not get the glory but are vital cogs in the Linfield machine. Without everyone working together all of these post season awards are meaningless. Congrats to the entire Linfield program!