2021 Great Midwest Football All-Conference Team (PDF)


INDIANAPOLIS – The coaches’ votes are officially in as the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Football All-Conference Team along with individual awards was released on Monday afternoon following the conclusion of the 2021 regular season.
 
Talented student-athletes were voted to the first, second and third teams, with specific allocation of numbers by position in offense, defense and special teams. The fall campaign was a fun one to watch as teams were able to get back on the field following a shortened spring.
 
Findlay captured the Great Midwest championship title with a win in Week 11 and appeared in the NCAA Championship Super Region One bracket over the weekend against Shepherd. Looking ahead, Hillsdale also has a postseason opportunity coming up in December at the America’s Crossroads Bowl as the Chargers prepare for Truman State from the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
 
Nine different individual awards were also unveiled for traditional yearly honors as the head coaches recognized standouts in different categories as the best players in the conference at their position.
 
The Great Midwest Player of the Year was announced as Ohio Dominican linebacker Dauson Dales (Defiance, OH / Ayersville HS), who became the first defensive player in league history to earn the prestigious top overall honor. Dales already came into the fall as the conference’s all-time leader in total tackles and he added to those totals to where he will be untouchable for the foreseeable future with an incredible senior campaign.
 
Dales established the conference single season record with 122 tackles officially passing the previous best of 118 recorded by Malone’s Ryan Weber in 2017. Dales was also the league leader in total tackles and averaged over 11 stops per game. His career total is a nice round number of 375 tackles to end his accomplished career.
 
Earning Great Midwest Offensive Player of the Year honors was Tiffin quarterback Nick Watson (Cincinnati, OH / La Salle HS), who was a two-time recipient of overall player of the year honors in 2019 and the spring of 2021. Watson led the conference in touchdown passes with 25 and was the most efficient with a rating of 144.2 in 11 games played. The senior QB completed over 58 percent of his passes for another league-leading total of 2,790 yards and he added over 250 yards on the ground with four more rushing scores. The Dragons were the league’s top scoring team at over 32 points per game.
 
Another absolute standout at the linebacker position in the Great Midwest is Ashland’s Michael Ayers (Columbus, OH / Walnut Ridge HS), who earned Great Midwest Defensive Player of the Year accolades. Ayers rolled up 100 tackles, a top 10 single season mark in conference history, including an effort of 19 stops in Week 5 vs. Ohio Dominican. He finished 12 tackles for a loss, another top 10 mark in the league this year, and was a disruptor in both the pass and run game.

The Great Midwest Offensive Lineman of the Year was Findlay graduate student Logan Bailey (Defiance, OH / Tinora HS) as he became the second Oiler in league history to capture the honor (Andrew Alten, 2017). Bailey made 45 consecutive career starts at the left tackle position and protected the blindside of his all-conference quarterback, Matt Winzeler. Bailey helped the Oilers churn out nearly 200 yards of rushing per game and helped lead the league in total offense (430 yards per game).
 
Winning the honor for the second straight time on the other side of the ball was Tiffin’s feared pass rusher Charlie Cleveland (East Chicago, IN / East Chicago Central HS) selected as Great Midwest Defensive Lineman of the Year. Cleveland routinely faces double teams and schemes from opposing offensive coordinators to try and slow down his 6-4, 250 lb. relentless motor off the edge. The redshirt junior finished with seven sacks and seven tackles for a loss while finishing with 52 tackles. He now has 21.5 sacks in his career since the Dragons were a member of the league, ranking second all-time only behind Walsh’s Morgan Trust (23).
 
After serving as a dual threat in Lake Erie’s offensive attack, running back Devin Brown (Kileen, TX / Shoemaker HS) was selected as the Great Midwest Freshman of the Year. He was just shy of 800 yards rushing to become the league leader in total yardage and he scored eight touchdowns. His longest run of the year was an 86-yard dash. Brown averaged 4.2 yards per carry as the primary workhorse and averaged over 72 net yards per game.
 
The Great Midwest Elite 25 Award winner was Ohio Dominican quarterback Evan Ernst (Mason, OH / Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller HS), who continues the streak of QB’s receiving the award after Kentucky Wesleyan’s Wiley Cain earned the honor this past spring. Ernst checks in with a cumulative 3.96 GPA while majoring in Finance. He is currently pursuing his MBA and his cerebral approach to the game translated into another successful season for the Panthers. Ernst was also a member of the all-conference second team was a previous winner of the CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year award for his sport.
 
Keeping the theme with the black and gold was Ohio Dominican’s David Turner (Fort Wayne, IN / Snider HS) tabbed as the Great Midwest Special Teams Player of the Year. Turner registered a punt return average of 16.5 yards, which goes down as No. 2 in the conference record books for a single season. Turner’s longest runback of 82 yards is also No. 2 in the conference records with the record of 88 still held in 2017 by Malone’s Jordan Johnson.
 
The crowning achievement for Findlay and head coach Rob Keys for a terrific regular season and postseason run was being named Great Midwest Coach of the Year by his peers. Keys is the all-time winningest coach in conference history with 37 wins following eight more chalked up in 2021. He guided the Oilers to their second NCAA Championship Super Region One appearance (2017) since Findlay has been a league member. Findlay’s championship win also represented the fifth different school to win a league title in the sport’s six-year history.