Southeast Missouri State's Peiffer selected to all-OVC football team

~ The Southeast linebacker led the conference in tackles

Southeast Missouri State's Blake Peiffer, Matt Scheible and Spencer Davis were recognized for their strong seasons by earning all-Ohio Valley Conference honors on Tuesday.

Peiffer, a junior linebacker from Jackson High School, was Southeast's lone first-team representative.

Scheible, a senior quarterback, made the second team, while redshirt freshman wide receiver/return specialist Davis was named to the all-newcomer squad.

Voting was done by the league's coaches and sports information directors.

Peiffer, a Jackson High School graduate, led the OVC with 151 tackles, breaking Southeast's single-season record in the process. His 13.7 tackles per game average ranked second in the nation.

Peiffer registered double-figure tackles in the last nine games and in 10 of 11 contests. He recorded a career-high 19 tackles against Jacksonville State on Nov. 12, matching Eastern Kentucky linebacker Ichiro Vance for the OVC's single-game high this year.

Scheible capped his sensational career with all-conference honors in consecutive seasons after making the all-OVC first team in 2010. He passed for 1,459 yards and 12 touchdowns while rushing for 967 yards and nine TDs this year.

Scheible was the first player in OVC history to pass for at least 4,000 career yards and rush for at least 2,000 career yards. He finished with a school-record 7,436 yards of total offense. That mark is fifth-most in OVC history.

Davis led the OVC in all-purpose yardage with an average of 138.7 per game. He caught 20 passes, second on the squad, while averaging 15.7 yards per reception.

Davis also rushed for 250 yards on nine carries -- a 27.8-yard average -- and was third on the team with four touchdowns. He averaged 20.5 yards per kickoff return.

Eastern Kentucky, which shared the OVC title along with Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State, led the way with 10 first-team all-conference selections. Tech followed with four.

Tech, which earned the OVC's automatic playoff berth -- Eastern Kentucky received an at-large bid -- took home two of the league's four major individual awards.

Senior wide receiver Tim Benford was named offensive player of the year and Watson Brown earned coach of the year.

Tennessee State took the other two top awards, senior linebacker Rico Council winning defensive player of the year and quarterback Michael German nabbing freshman of the year.

Vucic honored

Southeast sophomore Joe Vucic has been named the College Football Performance Awards national punter of the week.

Vucic averaged 48.2 yards on four punts in Saturday's 35-34 season-ending loss to Murray State. He had a 58-yard punt and pinned the Racers at their 2-yard line.

Vucic led the OVC and ranked 24th nationally with a 41.1-yard average.