Complete MIAC All-Conference Awards

2008 Concordia MIAC Postseason Award Winners

Mike Stam Award (top lineman) - Travis Aufderheide

1st Team All-Conference

Offensive Line
Billy Oehlers, Sr., North Branch, Minn.

Running Back
Cory Johnson, Sr., Moorhead, Minn.

Defensive Line

Travis Aufderheide, Jr., New Ulm, Minn.

Defensive Back

Tom Flynn, Sr., Shelby, Mont.

2nd Team All-Conference

Offensive Line

John M. Anderson, Jr., Cambridge, Minn.

Quarterback

Jesse Nelson, Sr., Chanhassen, Minn.

Defensive Line

Clinton Strother, Sr., Brainerd, Minn.

Defensive Back

Xavier Carroll, Jr., El Cajon, Calif.

Kicker

Carl Hauser, Jr., Fergus Falls, Minn.

Honorable Mention

Wide Receiver

Nick Alton, Sr., Miltona, Minn.

Jake Krause, Jr., Moorhead, Minn.

Defensive Line

Justin Hensch, Jr., Fergus Falls, Minn.

Defensive Back

Levi DeVries, Sr., Bejou, Minn.

Andrew Larson, Jr., Fergus Falls, Minn.
Levi Pole, Jr., Sioux Falls, S.D.

MIAC Sportsmanship Team
Jon Tritsch, Sr., Murray, Neb.

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/24/08) -- Concordia junior defensive tackle Travis Aufderheide was named the recipient of the Mike Stam Award that goes to the top lineman in the MIAC it was announced on Monday. He was one 16 Cobber players to earn conference postseason awards. Concordia had four players placed on the MIAC All-Conference First Team, while five others earned second team honors. Senior Jon Tritsch was the team's representative to the All-MIAC Sportsmanship Team for the second consecutive year.

Aufderheide becomes the fifth Concordia player to win the top lineman award in the past nine years. Last year offensive tackle Grant Weller earned the prestigious honor. Offensive tackle Nick Didier earned the honor in 2004, defensive lineman Derek Flann was named in 2002 and defensive end Mark Hankel garnered the award in 2000. Concordia is the only school in the MIAC to have five players honored with the award in the past eight seasons.

It is the first time that Aufderheide has won a postseason award for the Cobbers. Aufderheide led the team in sacks this season and was second in tackles for a loss. He had 4.5 sacks and 8.0 tackles for a loss in the team's 10 overall games. In conference play Aufderheide had 4.5 sacks and 7.0 tackles for a loss. He was fourth in the league in sacks and tied for seventh in tackles for a loss.

Aufderheide was one of the leaders on the Cobber defense that led the MIAC in rushing defense and was fourth in passing defense. Concordia was second in overall defense allowing 272.8 yards per game in the eight league games.

Cory Johnson earned MIAC All-Conference honors for the fourth straight season. He has been placed on the All-MIAC First Team for three of the four years. Johnson is the school's all-time rushing leader. He finished his career with 3,452 career rushing yards. In 2008 he became the sixth player in program history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a single season. He ran for 1,028 yards in 2008. He finished conference play with 825 rushing yards and was second in the league in rushing yards per game.

Billy Oehlers earned All-MIAC honors for the first time in his career. He helped Concordia lead the MIAC in rushing in conference play. The Cobbers averaged 228.8 rushing yards per game. In total offense Concordia averaged 370.4 yards per game and was third in the MIAC in that category. Oehlers was also the leader of the offensive line that finished third in the MIAC in sacks allowed (11).

Tom Flynn was the final member of the team to earn All-MIAC First Team honors. He was named the MIAC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 20 for his performance against Augsburg. He had a career-high 10 tackles against the Auggies. He also scored his first collegiate touchdown in the game when he recovered a fumble in the end zone in the second quarter.