KINGSVILLE, Texas --- Tusculum College placekicker Gareth Rowlands has been selected to play in the 2011 Cactus Bowl, the NCAA Division II Senior All-Star Game, which will be held this Friday night at 8 p.m. (EST) at Javelina Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
Rowlands is one of 88 players selected to play in this year's Cactus Bowl and will be the starting kicker for the "Red Storm" Team.
The live webcast of the game will be produced by the Texas A&M-Kingsville Communications Department and their students and is available through the Cactus Bowl web site or directly at www.tamuk.edu/southtexan. The game will also be broadcast on Sports Radio Corpus Christi 1230 AM and streamed at www.sportsradiocc.com. Live Stats will be available through the Cactus Bowl web site.
Rowlands, a 6-1, 215-pound senior from Benllech, Wales, enjoyed one of the finest seasons ever by a Tusculum kicker. The consensus All-American established school and league single-season records with his 111 points and 21 field goals made. Rowlands led the nation in field goals made per game (1.91) and finished sixth in scoring (10.09 ppg). His 111 points are the most this season by a NCAA II kicker.
He went 21-for-26 in field goals, including a string of 10 in a row towards the end of the season, which is a new school record. His streak of 53 consecutive made extra points is also a new school record. He was one of the 10 national finalists for the Fred Mitchell Award, which honors the college division (FCS, DII, DIII, NAIA) placekicker of the year.
He was named to the Daktronics NCAA II All-America First Team and the Associated Press Little All-America Second Team.
Rowlands' 270 points are the most in school history by a kicker and second amongst all Pioneers. The two-time All-Region and All-South Atlantic Conference standout has accounted for 45 career field goals made, which are a new Tusculum record and tied for 25th most in NCAA II history. Rowlands is also a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District selection.
Rowlands becomes the 10th Tusculum College player to be selected to the Cactus Bowl, joining former Pioneer greats Paul Czerniak (2001), Doug Holmberg (2003), Kevin Wolcott (2004), Alan Dunn (2004), Mario Leon (2005), Shawn Harris (2006), Corey Russell (2009), Justin Scott (2009) and Jarrell NeSmith (2010).
The Cactus Bowl is an all-star game featuring NCAA Division II senior football players and the proceeds from the game will go to the Shiners Hospital for Children. The Cactus Bowl has been played in Kingsville, Texas, since 2001. It previously was called the Snow Bowl and played in Fargo, N.D. Since the game's inception in 1994, there have been over 100 players that have been signed by NFL teams after playing in the Cactus Bowl. Among this year's 88 selections include seven Harlon Hill Trophy regional finalists, including the three national finalists, which are all quarterbacks (Northwest Missouri State's Blake Bolles, West Liberty's Zach Amedro and Central Missouri's Eric Czerniewski).
For more information on the Cactus Bowl, visit the internet at http://www.cactusbowl.org.
- TC -
