ATLANTA — On SIAC Championship eve, the league released its annual awards for football and Benedict College has engineered a repeat performance.
Head coach Chennis Berry has been named the league's coach of the year for the second straight year after guiding the Tigers to a second consecutive undefeated regular season (10-0). Benedict is ranked fifth nationally by the American Football Coaches Association.
Also, defensive lineman Loobert Denelus repeats as the league's defensive player of the year. Denelus is one of the leaders on a Benedict defense which ranks first in the nation in total defense, scoring defense, passing yards allowed, and team passing efficiency defense, while ranking second in team tackles for loss and fourth in team sacks. Individually, Denelus was third on the team with 37 total tackles, which included 10 sacks and 17 tackles for loss. He led the SIAC and ranked seventh in the nation in sacks, and was fifth in the SIAC and 11th in the nation in tackles for loss.
The Tigers face Albany State tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at Atlanta's Lakewood Stadium in the SIAC Championship/.
Benedict will look to run its record to 11-0 with a victory over an Albany State team which is 6-4 overall and needed a win last week over Fort Valley State and a loss by Tuskegee to Miles in order to break out of a four-team group of teams who were 6-2 in the SIAC.
