Ayize Martin, College of DuPage win national championship

One Bureau County football player won a national championship. Another is on a team playing for one this weekend.

Ayize Martin, a freshman defensive lineman from Bureau Valley/Walnut, took part in the College of DuPage’s stunning, come-from-behind 33-29 NJCAA Division III victory over Rochester Community and Technical College at Bjarne Ullsvik Stadium and MacDougall Field on Saturday, Dec. 2.

The Chapparals scored the game-winning touchdown with 1:03 remaining to claim their third straight title.

“It means a lot to me to be able to win a national championship and it takes an amazing team effort to pull that off. I do wish that it wasn’t as close as it was, but it was and hopefully next year we’re in the same position,” said Martin, who was an all-conference and all-BCR selection for the Storm.

Martin, who played in all 12 games for the Chapparals’ games this season, made one tackle in the title game victory. He ended up with 13 tackles and 0.5 sacks on the year.

“I’m so proud of that young man. To see how far he has come as a person and a player is just awesome,” BV coach Mat Pistole said.

St. Bede grad Ben Burke (’23) is a freshman member of the Iowa Western Junior College football team, which will play for the NJCAA Division I national championship.

The Reivers, who are the defending national champion, will meet East Mississippi Community College at 7 p.m. Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark.

Iowa Western (11-1) punched its ticket to the finals with a 47-7 win over Kilgore College. East Mississippi beat Hutchinson (Kansas) College, the same team which handed Iowa Western its only loss (42-28) of the season on Nov. 11.

Iowa Western also won the national title in 2012.

Fortney enters portal

St. Bede grad Tyreke Fortney has entered the transfer portal after two seasons at Illinois State University. The fleet-footed wide receiver has three years of eligibility left.

On X, he said he wanted to “explore new opportunities.”