BEREA, OHIO --  Two Baldwin-Wallace College football student-athletes, senior defensive back Matt Bowen (Tiffin/ Columbian) and junior quarterback Ryan O'Rourke (Avon), have been named today (Friday, November 11, 2011) to the 2011 CAPITAL ONE Academic All-District VII team.  Both now qualify for the CAPITAL ONE National Academic All-America balloting.

"This is outstanding and indicative of two young men who have excelled both academically and athletically," said 10th-year Head Coach John Snell. "Both are excellent students first, team and campus leaders second and outstanding football players.  All of our younger student-athletes look up to them as role models.  The duo is accomplishing exactly what we want all of our young men to accomplish. We are extremely proud of each of them." 

Bowen, an accounting and finance double major who carries a 3.69 grade point average, is a member of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, was named first-team CAPITAL ONE Academic All-District IV as a junior and is a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society and Dean's List. Last season, he also was named Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference, honorable mention All-OAC and as an OAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week. Through nine games this season, Bowen has started in every game and has recorded 20 tackles, including one and a half for loss, leads the team with 15 pass breaks and is second with three interceptions.  For his career, Bowen has 103 tackles and five interceptions, including two that he has returned for touchdowns. 

O'Rourke, an education major who carries a 3.65 grade point average, is having his best season as a collegian.  He is a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society and Dean's List. He has been the starting quarterback for the past two seasons and is serving as one of four team captains this season. After nine games, O'Rourke has completed 123-of-212 passes for 1,524 yards with 12 TDs and eight interceptions. He also has rushed for 38 yards and one TD. For his career, O'Rourke has completed 242-of-425 passes for 56.9 percent for 3,037 yards with 28 TDs. He has been twice selected as the OAC Offensive Player-of-the-Week.

The Yellow Jackets have a showdown with OAC and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University in the Annual Battle for the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl Trophy on Saturday, November 12 on the Tressel Field at The George Finnie Stadium on Seniors' and Parents' Day at 1:30 p.m.

The B-W versus JCU game is being televised by SportsTime Ohio on Sunday, November 13 at 12:00 noon and on Monday, Nov. 14 at 6:00 a.m.  Fans also can listen to the game LIVE on campus radio station WBWC, 88.3 FM, and via the WBWC web site at www.wbwc.com. You also can follow all of the action via LIVE STATS at http://homepages.bw.edu/~stats/football/xlive.htm. 

FOR MORE B-W SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.