CONTACT: Jeff Foley (518) 629-8085 or (518) 373-1262
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Tuesday, October 17, 2000
http://www.hvcc.edu
Gary Jones Named Offensive Player Of The Week For The Second Time This Year; North Carolina's Derrick Black Grabs Defensive Honors
As the featured running back on Hudson Valley's Community College's football team (5-2 overall, 3-2 Northeast Football Conference), second-year student-athlete Gary Jones (Ravena) ran for 214 yards on 20 carries in a 50-23 romp against Alfred State on October 14, earning NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second time in 2000. More importantly, the 5-foot-10, 200-pound tailback scored four rushing touchdowns, establishing a new single-game school record.
Numerous players, including Jones, held the old Hudson Valley record (three touchdowns). With his four scores against Alfred State, Jones has racked up 14 rushing touchdowns this year and is tied with Dennis Greene for the single-season record, established in 1971.
Greene, an Angola native, is a member of Hudson Valley's Athletic Hall of Fame and head coach of Erie Community College's football team, which begins play in 2001. He was an NJCAA All-American running back for the Vikings and went on to play in the World Football League and the Canadian Football League.
Jones, who has an eight-month-old daughter, Faith Micayla, is strongly considering transferring to UAlbany after graduating from Hudson Valley.
Derrick Black (Tarboro, NC), meanwhile, has also been busy breaking records. The second-year defensive back (5-foot-11, 175 pounds) was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week on the strength of two interceptions, which he returned for 143 yards, three pass deflections and five tackles.
Black now has seven interceptions in 2000, just one shy of Robert Harris' 1991 single-season record. Black is Hudson Valley's all-time leader with 11 career interceptions, and he has racked 394 return yards and two touchdowns. He has the three longest interception returns in Hudson Valley's history (98, 90 and 86 yards) and returned a kickoff 85 yards for a score this year.
Schools such as Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Marshall and UConn are currently courting Black.
Gary Jones' Performances At Hudson Valley Community College
|
Carries |
Yards |
Avg. |
TD |
| 1999 Totals |
20 |
96 |
4.8 |
1 |
| 2000 Totals |
125 |
774 |
6.2 |
14 |
| Career Totals |
145 |
870 |
6.0 |
15 |
Derrick Black's Performances At Hudson Valley Community College
|
Int. |
Yards |
Avg. |
TD |
| 1999 Totals |
4 |
91 |
18.2 |
1 |
| 2000 Totals |
7 |
303 |
43.3 |
1 |
| Career Totals |
11 |
394 |
25.8 |
2 |
Jones and Black will be back in action at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 21, when the Vikings travel to Navy Prep. The Vikings close out their season at Springfield's JV at 11 a.m. on October 29.
Hudson Valley's football program was established in 1969. At the time, Hudson Valley was one of only two junior colleges in New York to field a varsity football team. Since then, nearly 300 Hudson Valley football players have earned scholarships to four-year schools and 15 have gone on to play professionally. The Vikings competed in the Coca Cola Bowl in Iowa in 1980. In 1996, Hudson Valley posted an 8-0 record, part of dominant stretch that included 15 straight victories.
