Frontier All-Conference loaded with talent

There was plenty of excitement during the 2012 Frontier Conference football season, and plenty of great individual performances to boot. And that's why voting for this year's All-Conference Team was likely pretty fierce.

The Frontier released its posts

Montana State University-Northern junior wide receiver Brandon O'Brien was named First-Team All-Conference after an outstanding season for the Lights.

eason honors late last week, with Southern Oregon and Montana Tech players taking 11 spots each on the All-Conference list. The Montana State University-Northern Lights had four.

SOU quarterback Austin Dodge earned the Frontier's Offensive MVP award after throwing for 5,076 yards, 42 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions in 12 games this season. Dodge led the Red Raiders to a Frontier Conference co-championship and an NAIA quarterfinal berth in just his sophomore year.

To no one's surprise, Eastern Oregon's Howard McDonald was named Frontier Defensive MVP. The senior linebacker recorded a Frontier record 162 tackles this season, including a whopping 89 solo stops. McDonald also totaled four sacks, 15.5 tackles for loss and one interception in what was an incredible season.

Montana Tech's Chuck Morrell was named Coach of the Year in just his second season in Butte. He led the Orediggers to a remarkable turnaround. After going 3-8 in 2011, Tech went 10-3 this season, shared the Frontier title and advanced to the NAIA playoffs.

As for the all-conference list, there were 15 repeat performers, including Northern's Derek Lear (2nd Team Offense) and Stephen Silva (2nd Team Offense). Silva was a three-time all-conference selection at running back, while earning kickoff return honors his freshman season.

Carroll's Chance Demarias, a senior from Malta who rushed for over 4,000 yards in his career, repeated as a First-Team running back, while Tech running back Pat Hansen made the list for the second straight season. Carroll offensive lineman Connor Goudreau was a First-Team selection for the third straight season, as was EOU's McDonald on defense. Dodge, being named First Team at QB and MSU-N's Brandon O'Brien and SOU's Cole Mackenzie and Pat Donahue at wide receiver were the only two positions where there was not a First-Team repeat performer.

After Tech and SOU, the league's co-champions, Carroll has the second-most all-conference performers with eight.

2012 Frontier All-Conference

OFFENSE

First Team

QB – Austin Dodge, So., Southern Oregon

RB – Chance Demarais, Sr., Carroll; Pat Hansen, So., Montana Tech

TE – Clay Sierra, Fr., Southern Oregon

WR – Brandon O'Brien, Jr., MSU-Northern; Patrick Donahue, Sr., Southern Oregon; Cole McKenzie, Sr., Southern Oregon

OL – Connor Goudreau, Sr., Carroll; Will Hunter, Sr., Eastern Oregon; Keith Mullan, Sr. Montana Tech; Sonny Ahkui, Jr. Rocky Mountain College; Drew Gibson, So., Southern Oregon.

Second Team

QB – Derek Lear, Jr., MSU-Northern

RB – Stephen Silva, Sr., MSU-Northern; Mannay Barragan, Sr., Southern Oregon

TE – A.J. Smith, Jr., UM-Western

WR – Trent Thomas, Sr., Montana Tech; Rashad Peniston, Jr., UM-Western; Andre McCullough, Fr., Rocky Mountain College

OL – Ryan Armstrong, Fr., Carroll; Cary Dynneson, Sr., Dickinson St.; David Tapia Padron, Sr., Montana Tech; Nick Brown, So., UM-Western.

DEFENSE

First Team

DL – Rhakeem Harris, Sr., Carroll; Mike Waldman, Jr., Montana Tech; Jacob Scharbrough, Jr., Rocky Mountain College; Juwaun Brown, Sr., Southern Oregon

LB – Sean Blomquist, So., Carroll; Joe Dunning, Sr., Carroll; Howard McDonald, Sr., Eastern Oregon; Joe Semansky, Sr., Montana Tech

DB – Mike Siegersma, Jr., Carroll; Tristan Askew, So., Eastern Oregon; Ketwaun Frank, Sr., Montana Tech; Nate Kobold, Sr., Montana Tech.

Second Team

DL - Dakota Amy, Jr., Carroll; Wes Orr, Jr., Eastern Oregon; Jacob Workman, So., Montana Tech; Brad Eliel, Sr., Rocky Mountain College

LB – Mike Touzinsky, So., Montana Tech; Travis Bertelsen, Jr., Rocky Mountain College; Josh Johnson, Jr., Rocky Mountain College; Kalii Robinson, Sr., Southern Oregon

DB – Josh Baum, So., MSU-Northern; Jesse McCloud, So., UM-Western; Ridge Fuentes, Sr., Rocky Mountain College; Josh Leff, Sr., Southern Oregon.

SPECIAL TEAMS

First team

Kicker – Nick Knell, Sr., Rocky Mountain College; Punter – Travis Farewell, So., Montana Tech; KR – Patrick Donahue, Sr., Southern Oregon; PR – Ked Starr, Jr., Eastern Oregon.

Second Team

Kicker - MacKenzie Crossley Sr., UM-Western; Punter – Paul Blakely, Fr., Eastern Oregon; KR – Ked Starr, Jr., Eastern Oregon; PR – Mike Olson, Sr., Southern Oregon.