PELLA — Central College again shares the state lead in landing 11 players in the National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society for academic achievement.

The Hampshire Society, in its 11th year, recognizes senior football players who are starters or significant reserves and carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher.

Central shares the state top spot with Morningside, which also had 11 honorees. The Dutch tied for first in the Iowa Conference as well—Nebraska Wesleyan also had 11 honorees. Central has led the league, or shared the league lead, eight times in the past 10 years. Central has had 84 honorees in that span, the most in Iowa.

Within the state this year, behind Central and Morningside are Drake, Luther and Wartburg with eight honorees each.

Nationally, the Dutch tied for fourth in the NCAA Division III. St. John’s (Minn.) leads with 18 selections, Elmhurst (Ill.) follows with 16 and Central, Nebraska Wesleyan and Carnegie-Mellon (Pa.) each have 11.

Among all divisions, Central is among 19 colleges and universities with at least 10 honorees. St. John’s shares the overall lead with Brown University. Central had 17 honorees in 2011-12 and this is the third time for the Dutch to have 11 players cited. Nationwide, 1,089 players from 297 schools were recognized this year.

Tight end Mitchell Boerm (Traer, North Tama HS) heads the Central list. He carries a 3.78 GPA with a biology major. Last fall, Boerm was also named to the CoSIDA Academic All- America Division III squad as a second-team pick, the 13th time a Central football player has received the honor and the 53rd time for Central overall.

And record-setting quarterback Riley Gray (West Des Moines, Waukee HS) earlier was awarded a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Gray carries a 3.66 GPA with a physics major.

Central’s honorees include:

Name (hometown/high school) Position GPA Major

*Corbin Blythe (Williamsburg) DL 3.59 Business management
Brett Boddicker (Center Point-Urbana) DL 3.32 Exercise science, athletic training
*Mitchell Boerm (Traer, North Tama) TE 3.78 Biology
*Drew Carlson (Ankeny) LB 3.69 Exercise science
*Riley Gray (West Des Moines, Waukee) QB 3.66 Physics
T.J. Huizenga (Fulton, Ill.) LB 3.67 Exercise science. Athletic training
*Zach Matter (Ankeny) DB 3.34 Economics/business management
William Meredith (Piedmont, Calif.) WR 3.46 Exercise science, Athletic training
*Jessie Peterson (Coralville, Iowa City West) LB 3.20 Exercise science
Sam Schmitz (Missouri Valley) DB 3.38 Exercise science
Matthew Williamson (Wiota, CAM) SB 3.54 Math education
Number of honorees for Iowa colleges and universities

School Honorees

Central 11
Morningside 11
Drake 8
Luther 8
Wartburg 8
Grinnell 4
Northwestern 4
Loras 3
Northern Iowa 3
Dubuque 2
Iowa State 2
Iowa 1