Blaine Snitker named IIAC Football Defensive MVP

The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced its major football awards Thursday, November 19 for the 2015 season, and Waukon High School 2012 graduate Blaine Snitker won this season’s highest defensive honor. Snitker, a senior linebacker for the University of Dubuque (UD) football team, was named the 2015 IIAC Football Defensive Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Snitker was joined in this season’s top honors by Wartburg College senior quarterback Logan Schrader, who was named the IIAC Football Offensive Most Valuable Player. Snitker’s head coach, Stan Zweifel, earned the honor of IIAC Football Coach of the Year after coaching the Spartans to the Iowa Conference Championship with a 7-0 record in IIAC play and an NCAA Division Play-Off berth, where the University of Dubuque’s season ended this past Saturday, November 21 with a 51-7 loss to 10th-rated St. John’s University.
Earning his third consecutive First Team All-Iowa Conference selection at linebacker this season, Snitker was the key to a Dubuque defense that led the IIAC in nearly every major defensive statistical category this regular season, including turnovers forced (18), scoring defense (15.4 points/game), total defense (314.7 yards/game), rushing average (3.5 yards/rush), completion percentage (55.8), first downs allowed (127), and opponent third down percentage (35.4%).
In conference play this season, Snitker made 52 tackles (15 solo) with 3.5 tackles for a loss, and one interception. He has played 36 career games for the Spartans, posting 283 tackles (123 solo), 23.0 tackles for a loss, and six interceptions. The senior linebacker finished his University of Dubuque career ranked seventh all-time in career tackles (283) and ninth in career tackles-for-loss (23.0). With Snitker on the field in the six regular season games he was limited to this fall due to a pre-season knee injury and late-season elbow injury, UD allowed 15.3 points per game. Without Snitker, UD had given up 30.25 points per game enroute to the Spartans’ 8-2 regular season record.
Snitker is the fourth Spartan student-athlete to be named an Iowa Conference MVP and the first defensive player to earn the honor. He also joins fellow Waukon High School graduate Frank Weymiller in being named as an IIAC Defensive MVP, an honor Weymiller won following his senior season at Coe College in 2012.
The son of Jon and Nancy Snitker of Waukon, Snitker was a two-time IIAC Football Defensive Player of the Week during his college career, earning the award October 6, 2013 and October 4, 2015. His October 4, 2015 honor also included being named Iowa Conference Male Athlete of the Week.