Three Dutch football players on CoSIDA academic team

Central Dutch Athletics

PELLA — The Central College football team had three players earn spots on the Division III Academic All-District Eight football team presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Thursday morning.

Running back Pat Gray (senior, West Des Moines, Waukee HS) and kicker Jon Alberts (junior, Huntley, Ill.) are both second-time honorees after being recognized in 2017. Linebacker Drew Kithcart (senior, Atkins, Benton HS) was honored for the first time.

To be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must be a starter or key reserve at the varsity level and achieve a 3.30 or better cumulative grade point average (4.00 scale).

Gray, an engineering major, has a 3.90 GPA. The versatile player was listed as an s-back, but took snaps at quarterback, running back, tight end and wide receiver. He ran for 230 yards and two touchdowns on 55 attempts. On 21 pass receptions, he totaled 191 yards and one score. He also completed a 10-yard pass to set up Central’s game-winning field goal against Loras on November 10.

Alberts has a 3.93 GPA as a business management and philosophy double major. He converted 45 of 46 extra point attempts in 2018 while making eight of his nine field goal attempts. He made the longest field goal in Division III this season with a 55-yard effort against Wartburg College.

Kithcart is an actuarial science and computer science double major with a 3.74 GPA. From his inside linebacker position, Kithcart led the team with 72 tackles. He added three pass break-ups to go with his 2.5 tackles-for-loss.

Central finished the season with an 8-2 overall record, recording a 6-2 mark in American Rivers Conference games to tie for second.