College Update: St. Francis football products shining at next level
The following are updates on area athletes at the collegiate level.
Ty Gangi (St. Francis High, 2014) Nevada football junior: The former All-Area Football Player of the Year and the Wolfpack went out winners Saturday as Gangi completed 24 of 33 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns in Nevada’s 23-16 win over UNLV in the Battle for the Fremont Cannon.
On Sunday at the team’s banquet, Gangi was bestowed the Wolf Pack’s Golden Helmet Award as the team most valuable player.
As the team’s starting quarterback in 10 of 12 games, Gangi threw for 2,746 yards (228 completions in 374 attempts) and 25 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. He added four rushing touchdowns and 180 yards in 53 carries.
Gangi also punted six times for 174 yards (29 yards per punt) with three inside the 20-yard line.
On two occasions, Gangi eclipsed the 400-yard mark in a game. Against Colorado State on Oct. 14, he threw for 428 yards and four touchdowns in a 44-42 loss. It was the first time a Nevada quarterback threw for more than 400 yards since 2007 and the most since 2001. Gangi did it again against San Diego State on Nov. 18 with 414 yards and three scores in a 42-23 defeat.
Nevada finished the season at 3-9, 3-5 in Mountain West Conference play.
Joe Mudie (St. Francis High, 2014) Chapman football senior: A marvelous career came to a close for Mudie on the heels of his finest season at Chapman.
Mudie was a focal point for the second Panthers team to win a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and earned first-team all-conference honors. It was the second all-conference honor for Mudie as he was a part of both Panthers title wins.
Chapman’s season concluded with a 50-6 loss against No. 1 seed Mary Hardin-Boldin on Nov. 18 in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. Mudie was held to 39 yards in 15 carries, though he was the game-high rusher.
Mudie fell just short of the 1,000-yard barrier as he finished with 998 yards in nine games, an excellent average of 110.9 yards per contest as he had an outstanding 6.9 yards per attempt. He ran for eight touchdowns and five 100-yard games, led by 166- and 153-yard efforts against La Verne and Cal Lutheran, respectively. Mudie added 22 receptions for 211 yards and a touchdown.
Jared Lebowitz (St. Francis High, 2013) Middlebury University football senior: An injury cut short Lebowitz’ season and career at Middlebury, but it didn’t stop him from turning in a terrific year.
For the second time, Lebowitz was recognized as an All-New England Small College Athletic Conference selection. In just seven games, Lebowitz, a former All-Area Football Player of the Year, completed 128 of 216 passes (59.3%) for 1,732 yards and 18 touchdowns to just two interceptions. He had four 300-yard games, including three straight to start the year, with a high of 389 yards in a 37-6 win over Colby on Sept. 30. The last game he played was on Oct. 21 at Bates in a 43-14 win as he completed 12 of 18 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns before a hard hit knocked him out in the second quarter.
Middlebury went 7-2 to finish second in conference to Trinity, which won the head-to-head machup, 27-5, the game following Lebowitz’ injury.
As a junior, Lebowitz averaged 323.1 yards per game and threw for 2,585 over eight games with 29 touchdowns.
Areg Nazarian (St. Francis High, 2016) Marist College football sophomore: The former multiple-time All-Area and All-Angelus League selection became a significant contributor in his second season at Marist.
The running back carried the ball 77 times for 301 yards and a pair of touchdowns as he saw action in all 11 games for Marist, which went 4-7. Nazarian added 11 catches for 69 yards, four kick returns for 70 yards and 24 punt returns for 90 yards.
The first college touchdown of Nazarian’s career came on Sept. 9 in a 38-17 win over Stetson in which he scored on a five-yard run in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with seven carries for 20 yards and season-highs of three catches for 29 yards.
His second touchdown of the season came in a 41-17 loss to Columbia on Oct. 7. He scored on a three-yard run with 52 seconds left in the game.
Nazarian, who had a season-high 71 yards on 10 carries Oct. 13 at Valparaiso, had 11 carries for 41 yards in Marist’s 35-7 season-ending loss at San Diego on Nov. 18.
Israel Gutierrez (St. Francis High, 2013) La Verne football senior: The former Golden Knight and Glendale Community College player saw time as an offensive and defensive lineman.
Gutierrez finished the season with eight tackles and half a sack in seven games, his most productive contest coming in a 48-14 loss to Redlands in which he had three tackles.
La Verne finished the season at 3-5 with a 2-4 mark in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. The Leopards concluded their season with an emphatic 82-17 victory over Whittier.
Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon
