Independent Record - 12/17/08

Editor's note: Tuesday's story on the NAIA All-Americans was incorrect. This is a corrected version.

Carroll College senior linebacker Owen Koeppen joins Ohio Dominican quarterback Cris Reisert as the only two NAIA football players to receive AFCA All-America status for the second year in a row in 2008.

This year's All-American team was announced Monday by the American Football Coaches Association.

Koeppen anchors a Carroll defense that has held opponents to an average of 264.4 yards per game this season. Koeppen leads the Saints with 105 tackles, 13.5 of those for a loss. He has also had two interceptions and nine sacks.

"It's a real honor to receive this award and it means a lot to me personally. But I look at it as a team award," said the 6-foot-2, 235-pounder from Florence.

Without his teammates doing their jobs and the coaches preparing the Saints for every battle, he wouldn't be able make the plays he does, Koeppen said.

"Owen is well deserving of this honor, I think he is one of the most dominating football players I have been around since I have been at Carroll College," said Carroll head coach Mike Van Diest. "Certainly the most dominate player in the Frontier Conference and his work on the field has earned him his second All-American honor."

The Saints will travel to Rome, Ga., to face Sioux Falls in a rematch of the 2007 title game.

Last season, Koeppen received All-American status as well as the Victory Sports Networks' 2007 Defensive Player of the Year. He was awarded the defensive MVP of the NAIA national championship, a game the Saints won 17-9 over the University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) in Savannah, Tenn.

"Owen is recognized all around the country not just regionally but nationally. He changes the game," Van Diest said.

Carroll joins Georgetown (Ky.) as the only two NAIA schools to have had at least one player named to an AFCA Coaches' All-America Team for four straight seasons.