ONU sophomore Christiaan Williams (Sidney/Anna) has been named an Associated Press Second Team Little All-American in Div. III Football for his efforts during the 2017 season.

The 2017 Associated Press Little All-America Division III football team, was brought back this year in a partnership between the College Sports Information Directors of America and the Associated Press.

Williams is the first Polar Bear since Wes Hostetler in 2005 to be named to a Little All-America team and became the ninth football player in school history to earn the honor.

His Second Team honor is the second highest honor for a Polar Bear on a Little All-America team, as NFL standout Jason Trusnik was named First Team Little All-America in 2004.

Williams also earned First Team All-Conference honors in each of his two seasons as a Polar Bear and made his first appearance on the All-Region squad. He becomes the 45th football player at ONU to be named an All-American.

This season, Williams led the OAC with 269 rushes, 1,623 rushing yards and 2,016 all-purpose yards. He was also third in the league with 11 rushing touchdowns.

He also had a league-best and school-record 407 rushing yards in a 51-21 victory over Capital on Oct. 7 this season.

In his two seasons at Ohio Northern, Williams ranks seventh all-time in school history with 2,831 rushing yards. He is also 10th with 462 rushing attempts, is third with an average of 6.13 yards per rush and is seventh with 3,567 all-purpose yards.

The Polar Bears finished with a 7-3 record and were second in the OAC with a 6-3 mark in 2017 under 14th-year head coach Dean Paul.