Conley, Hood take weekly NWC honors

Courtesy of Linfield sports information

Sophomore kicker Cayman Conley  has been recognized as the Northwest Conference Football Special Teams Student-Athlete of the Week, as announced Monday following a vote of the league’s sports information directors.

Conley averaged 53.2 yards on eight kickoffs, including three touchbacks, that prevented Pacific from getting good field position to start their drives in Linfield’s 59-0 victory over the Boxers. The win earned the Wildcats the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA Division III National Playoffs after sharing the league title with Pacific.

During the regular season, Conley averaged 60 yards on a whopping 73 kickoffs while going a perfect 6-for-6 on PAT attempts and knocking in his only field goal attempt of the season, a 23-yarder against Lewis & Clark.

Linfield captured a share of its sixth consecutive Northwest Conference championship and earned the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA playoffs, earning a first-round date with Chapman. The Wildcats and Panthers kick off Saturday at noon at Linfield’s Maxwell Field.

Hood honored in ‘Cats’ strong start

Both Linfield and Amantha Hood had hot starts to the year, notching a pair of victories and nabbing Northwest Conference Women’s Basketball Offensive Student-Athlete of the Week honors, respectively. As announced Monday, the rookie Wildcat was chosen for the award via a vote of the league’s sports information directors.

Hood made an impressive Wildcat debut, averaging team highs of 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting 52.6 percent from the field en route to all-tournament honors and two Linfield victories at the George Fox Tip-Off Classic.

She tallied 15 of Linfield’s 97 points (second highest total in program history) in a 97-68 win against La Verne and recorded a double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds) in a 66-52 win against Trinity. She also had three assists and two steals in the tournament.