by FROM STAFF REPORTS , Charleston Daily Mail

A 3-7 season was much better than the record showed for West Virginia State senior linebacker Andrew Eggleton.

Eggleton, at St. Albans High School product, was named the West Virginia Conference Defensive Player of the Year on Tuesday, as the All-WVC teams were announced by the NCAA Division II league.

"The thing about it is, we didn't have the kind of season we wanted, but for me, the goal was not just to work hard every season, but every day," said Eggleton, who was a first-team all-conference selection for the third consecutive year. "The coaches voted on the award, and I really appreciate the respect they showed to me."

Eggleton shared top player honors with West Liberty junior quarterback Zach Amedro, who took the WVC Offensive Player of the Year award while leading the Hilltoppers (10-1, 8-0 WVC) to the league title. He leads the nation with 41 touchdown passes.

Eggleton and Amedro, a former John Marshall standout, gave a sweep of the top WVC honors to the Mountain State for the first time since 1986. In that season, Concord linebacker Kevin Johnson of Ballard and Salem quarterback Jimbo Fisher of Clarksburg were the conference players of the year.

West Liberty's Roger Waialae was named the 2009 WVC Coach of the Year by his peers. His team is the No. 1 seed in Super Region 1 in the upcoming playoffs.

Eggleton was a four-year starter at WVSU, which finished tied for seventh (2-6) in the WVC standings this season, and finished his career with 337 tackles (140 solo, with seven sacks, seven interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries).

He began his college career as a strong safety, then switched to weakside linebacker midway through his freshman season. He was moved to the strong side by State defensive coordinator Will King in 2008 and '09.

"Coach King constantly pushed me to keep it going to the end of the season," said the 6-foot, 215-pound linebacker who led the WVC in tackles with 109 stops - including 22 in a loss to West Virginia Wesleyan. "When things went down for us as a team, you start to focus on individual goals, and this was one of mine.

"I think it helped a lot that Valentine Bon (a second team All-WVC pick at outside linebacker) and I pushed each other every day in practice. We helped each other as teammates."

West Liberty dominated the first team all-WVC selections, getting seven (of 14) selections on offense and three on defense. The University of Charleston (9-2, 6-2), which missed the national playoffs despite a No. 19 national ranking in the final coaches' poll, had three first team picks.

Coach Tony DeMeo's fifth UC team put quarterback DaRante Hunter (he shared first-team honors at QB with Amedro), offensive lineman Josh Harvey of St. Albans and defensive lineman Chris Almonte on the top squad. Hunter was a repeater as a first team selection.

The Golden Eagles had six second team picks.

Eggleton was the only first team pick for State Coach Earl Monroe's program. The Yellow Jackets placed three on the second unit.

Nine of the 30 first-team selections were West Virginia high school products, and four were from the Kanawha Valley.

Besides Eggleton and Harvey of St. Albans, the other Charleston-area selections were Glenville State defensive back A.D. Hale of Belle (Riverside High) and West Virginia Wesleyan place-kicker and Hurricane resident Derek Moore (Hurricane High).

All-WVC football 2009

The 2009 All-West Virginia Conference football top awards and first-team selections, as chosen by league head coaches:

Offensive Player of the Year: Zach Amedro, QB, West Liberty

Defensive Player of the Year: Andrew Eggleton, LB, W.Va. State

Coach of the Year: Roger Waialae, West Liberty

Offense

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