Ocampo, Longoria, Bell receive All-Region honors from D3football.com

2018 D3football.com All-South Region Team

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran student-athletes Juan Ocampo, Manny Longoria, and James Bell have been named to D3football.com's All-South Region Team.

Ocampo, a freshman place-kicker from Lockhart (Lockhart), was named to the All-South Region First Team.

Longoria (Geronimo/Navarro) and Bell (Houston/Lamar) were selected to the Second Team and Third Team, respectively. Longoria is a junior defensive end. Bell is a redshirt sophomore safety.

The 2018 season is the second consecutive year that the Bulldogs have had All-South Region selections on the First, Second, and Third Teams.

In 2017, Bulldog offensive lineman Alejandro Briseno was a First Team selection, and Bell and offensive lineman Christopher Bennett were Second and Third Team selections, respectively. Briseno later would be named a D3football.com Third Team All-American.

The All-South Region teams, selected in balloting by South Region sports information directors and D3football.com staff, were chosen from 234 nominations by Division III member schools.

A total of 76 players were chosen. Players nominated for All-Region are eligible to be considered for D3football.com All-America honors, which will be announced the evening of Dec. 14, in D3football.com's pregame coverage for Stagg Bowl XLVI.

Ocampo collects a First Team All-Region honor after being named the American Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year and appearing on the ASC's All-Conference First Team.

Ocampo is the only kicker among the NCAA Division III's kick-scoring leaders (in the Top 200 for total scoring) to go without any type of missed kick in 2018. Ocampo was a perfect 45-for-45 on extra point attempts, and he was 8-for-8 on field goal attempts.
 
Ocampo was one of three kickers among the NCAA Division III's top 30 kick scorers to be perfect on extra points. He is one of two kickers in all of NCAA DIII, joining Valentin Wagner of Western New England, to have 45 or more made extra points without a miss this season. Wagner is 56-for-56.

Entering the DIII national semifinal games, Ocampo is 41st nationally in field goals per game (0.8), 119th in scoring among all players (69 points), and 122nd in total scoring (6.9 points per game).

Longoria also claimed First Team All-ASC honors this season. Longoria is among the national leader in sacks (19^th) and tackles for loss (11^th). He also ranks 32^nd in forced fumbles.
 
Longoria leads the ASC in sacks per game and tackles for loss, and he is tied for the conference lead in fumbles forced per game.
 
Longoria ended his 2018 with 37 total tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss (108 yards in losses), and 10.0 sacks (77 yards in losses). He also had five quarterback hurries, three forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery (which he returned 41 yards for a score).
 
Early in the 2018 season, Longoria broke Texas Lutheran's DIII-era record for career sacks, and he is closing in on the TLU DIII-era record for tackles for loss. He needs 10 more in his senior season to break the record.
 
Bell is now a two-time All-Region and two-time All-ASC First Team selection. In 2018, Bell intercepted a team-high four passes and had 105 yards in INT returns. It was the second consecutive year that Bell led the team in interceptions. He had six in 2017.
 
This season, Bell had two picks in the road win at Louisiana College. He returned the first one 55 yards for the game's opening touchdown. His second interception came on the Wildcats' final drive of the game. Bell's interception preserved a 41-36 TLU win in Pineville, La.
 
Bell finished third on the squad in total tackles (47), and he had a tackle for loss, five pass break-ups, a recovered fumble, and a blocked kick.

Led by second-year head coach Carl Gustafson, TLU finished its 2018 season with a one-win improvement from 2017, going 7-3 overall and 6-3 in the ASC. The Bulldogs matched the program's best-ever finish – third place – in the ASC.