INDIANS PLACE 4 ON OVC 1ST TEAM

Four Southeast Missouri State University football players have been named to the 1998 All-Ohio Valley Conference first team as selected by the league's head football coaches and sports information directors.

Indians on the first team are offensive guard Jessie Eaton, running back Corey Williams, defensive lineman Troy Baglio and linebacker Kevin Meachem. All are seniors.

Eaton, 6-feet-3 and 320 pounds, was an anchor of Southeast's offensive line that helped open holes for the hard-charging Williams (5-11, 215), who was second in the OVC in rushing and first in scoring despite missing nearly three games with an injury. Williams wound up with 687 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Baglio (6-1, 280), a four-year starter, was one of the Indians' most consistent defenders despite playing hurt late in the season. He wound up with 81 tackles to rank 12th in the OVC and his 12 tackles for loss ranked seventh in the league.

Meachem (6-2, 215), after coming on late during his first season at Southeast two years ago, turned into one of the OVC's premier linebackers as a senior. He led the league in tackles with 111 while ranking fifth in quarterback sacks with seven and sixth in tackles for loss with 13.

Two other Indians earned second-team honors, tight end Mitch Fryer and defensive back Fred Hambrick. Both are seniors.

Fryer (6-2, 240) was a starter for most of his four seasons at Southeast. This year, he caught 22 passes for 262 yards.

Hambrick (5-10, 185) intercepted one pass and had 38 tackles.

Six Southeast players received honorable-mention honors: senior wide receiver Dante Bryant, senior offensive tackle Carlos DeJesus, junior center Chris Kiefer, senior defensive lineman Marcus McLellan, junior defensive back Brian Hinton and sophomore return specialist Corey Chester.

Bryant led the Indians with 46 receptions while Chester was third in the OVC in kickoff returns with an average of 26.5 yards per return. Kiefer is a native of Perryville.

Leon Murray of Tennessee State, who broke the OVC record for passing yards, was named the league's offensive player of the year.

Tennessee State coach L.C. Cole also was honored as the OVC's coach of the year, while Tennessee Tech defensive end Branon Vaughn was picked as the league's defensive player of the year.

Murray was 183-of-353 for an OVC-record 3,002 yards and 22 touchdowns in leading the Tigers to their first winning record since 1990. He led the conference and was eighth nationally in total offense with 277.8 yards a game.

Cole was honored for leading the Tigers to a 9-2 record and their first OVC football title. The Tigers also qualified for their first Division I-AA playoff appearance since 1986.

Vaughn led the OVC with 19 tackles for loss and was second with a school-record 10 sacks.

Tennessee State also led the league with five players named to the All-OVC first team, led by Murray and his favorite receiver, Tyrone Butterfield, who caught 72 passes.

A complete list of the All-OVC teams appears in `Scoreboard' on 2B.