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Bagent and his records enough to win Harlon Hill Award

By Bob Madison - For the Chronicle | Dec 24, 2021

This past football season, Tyson Bagent had more passing yards, more TD passes, more points, the highest percentage of completions and was leading the Rams to the top spot in team scoring average in the nation. Courtesy photo

SHEPHERDSTOWN — The four touchdown games began to be stacked high. And the 300-yard passing games came with a noticeable regularity. For much of Shepherd’s closely-followed season, quarterback Tyson Bagent was completing more than 70 percent of his passes. As the Rams built a nifty winning streak, they bubbled toward the top of the national rankings. Bagent was beginning to be a known commodity across the football-playing landscape. People saw he was building statistics like Alabama and Nick Saban build would-be national championship teams.

The four-, five- and six-touchdown games became as regular as the sun rising in the east. The 300-, 400- and 500-yard passing games were commonplace. The Rams began to routinely appear in the ratings polls, settling into the Top 10 like their offense was settling into opponents’ end zones.

Ultra successful teams, like the Rams were becoming, attract the attention of people who don’t even see them play. Individual players begin to gain attention and awards.

Bagent was honored by his own league — the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference — as its Offensive Player of the Week in his division, about as often as kickoffs sail through the end zone.

During Shepherd’s 10-1 regular season, Bagent piled up better numbers than any other quarterback in the country in the NCAA Division II ranks.

He had more passing yards, more TD passes, more points, the highest percentage of completions and was leading the Rams to the top spot in team scoring average in the nation.

Shepherd was 10-1, when the regular season was completed with a run-away win over Clarion.

On came the playoffs. Could the Rams duplicate the season they had in 2015, when they mowed down the opposition and won their way into the national championship game in Kansas City?

Shepherd trimmed Findlay (Ohio). And then came a last-seconds win over Notre Dame (Ohio), which was shown to viewers across the country.

Bagent was suddenly more than just a regional phenom.

As one of eight national finalists for the Harlon Hill Award (emblematic of the best player in all of the NCAA Division II ranks), Bagent’s star had risen to new heights.

When Shepherd repeated its heart-stopping win over Kutztown on the last play of the game, even more voters had to flock to his side in the balloting.

Even when the Rams were stopped and their season ended by Ferris State (Michigan) in the national semifinals, Bagent had literally amassed statistics that had to be seen as staggering.

In 15 games, 13 of which were Shepherd wins, he had thrown for an even 5,000 yards and completed 391-of-579 throws. He had 53 TD passes in all, had four touchdowns or more in nine of his 15 games and over 300 passing yards in 10 games.

When the final voting for the Hill Award was announced last Friday, Bagent was the winner. He had outpointed Nebraska-Kearney quarterback T.J. Davis and Northwest Missouri State running back Al McKeller as his closest pursuers.

He had joined Shepherd predecessors Damian Beane (1997, 1998 and 1999), Dan Peters (2006), Dervon Wallace (2007), Jeff Ziemba (2015 and 2016) and Connor Jessop (2017) as other Hill Award nominees. Bagent had been one of the eight Hill finalists in 2019. Beane’s third-place finish in 1999 was the highest previous finish by any Ram.

On Jan. 14, Bagent will be in Little Rock, Ark. to claim the 64-pound Harlon Hill Award. And Shepherd will have further advanced on the nation’s football-paying map.