2018 D3football.com All-America Teams
ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - The awards keep rolling in for Bethel football's
Kyle Kilgore as the senior defensive end was named to the Honorable Mention list for D3football.com's All-America teams. Kilgore is the fifth Bethel Royal to earn Honorable Mention All-America status in the 20 years that D3football.com has assembled an All-America team with 18 other Royals being placed on the First, Second or Third teams. Kilgore was named to the D3football.com All-West Region Third Team which only took into account regular season performances. The All-America teams for D3football.com take into account postseason play as well, which Kilgore took his already dominant play to another level over Bethel's three NCAA playoff games. Kilgore was one of just eight defensive ends in NCAA DIII to be honored on the All-America list by D3football.com
In those three playoff games he totaled seven sacks, an incredible 18 solo tackles and 20 total tackles, to go along with eight and a half tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. In addition two of those three games came against opposing quarterbacks who were named to the All-America teams in Wartburg's Matt Sacia and North Central's Broc Rutter. Sacia and Rutter both entered their games against Bethel with completion percentages over 70% on the year and the two combined to complete just 51% against Bethel and Kilgore's pressure which included five sacks. The other quarterback was UW-Whitewater's Cole Wilbur who was named the WIAC's Offensive Player of the Year. Against the Royals Wilbur was sacked twice by Kilgore and finished the game just 1-9 for eight yards passing.
Kilgore's Honorable Mention All-America award now goes along side the rest of his honors this season which includes
AFCA Second Team All-American,
MIAC First Team All-Conference (two-time recipient),
D3football.com Third Team All-West Region (two-time recipient),
Cliff Harris Award Finalist,
MIAC Defensive Player of the Week, and
AFCA Allstate Good Works Team member. Royals fans should be sure to watch the upcoming Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 1st where Kilgore will be part of the halftime festivities as the AFCA Allstate Good Works Team will be honored and shown at halftime on the ESPN broadcast. The 85th edition of the Sugar Bowl kicks off at 7:45pm and pits the Texas Longhorns against the Georgia Bulldogs.
