May 3 , 2007

Doug Blakowski will play for Team USA in the 2007 World Championship of American Football in Kawasaki, Japan. (Photo by Kevin Colton)

GENEVA, N.Y.—Recent Hobart College graduate Doug Blakowski (Iroquois/Elma, N.Y.) is one of 45 players selected to the Team USA roster that will compete in the 2007 World Championship of American Football. The running back is one of nine Division III players chosen and the only one from the Liberty League.

A two-time honorable mention All-American, Blakowski ran for 1,054 yards (105.4 yards per game) and scored a team-high 15 touchdowns as a senior. He wrapped up his career with 2,610 rushing yards and 32 touchdowns, including a three-touchdown, 132-yard rushing performance in a 19-14 win over WPI in 2006. Blakowski ranked among the national leaders in several statistical categories, including scoring (18th, 9.0 ppg), rushing yards per game (34th), and all-purpose yards per game (35th, 137.4).

A two-year starter, Blakowski earned a spot on the All-Liberty League teams in each of the past two seasons.

The six-country tournament will be held July 7-15 in Kawasaki, Japan. This is the third championship staged by the International Federation of American Football and the first that Team USA will play in. The Americans will face Germany and Korea in pool play, with two-time defending champs Japan taking on Sweden and France in the other pool.

Team USA will train at San Jose State from June 20 through July 4 before heading to Japan. The Americans will be led by John Mackovic, whose coaching resume includes head coaching stints with Illinois, Texas, and Arizona, as well as the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.

Team USA includes 25 Division I, 10 Division II and one NAIA players, in addition to the nine from Division III. Twenty-five states are represented on the roster, but Blakowski is the lone New Yorker.