Jon "Sackmaster" Kowalyshen (born April 14, 1985) is a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player who played 6 seasons with the

United Indoor Football United Indoor Football (UIF) was an indoor football league in the United States that operated from 2005 to 2008. Ten owners from the National Indoor Football League, including one expansion (the Dayton Warbirds, which never played a game in UIF) ...

(UIF),

Continental Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIF ...

(CIFL) and the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...

(IFL).

Career

College

Kowalyshen started his collegiate career playing at William Rainey Harper College under head coach John Eliasik. At

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. History Western Illin ...

, Jon played under coach Don Patterson and

Ronnie Harmon Ronnie Keith Harmon (born May 7, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). After a standout career at the University of Iowa in the Big Ten Conference, he played for 12 ...

College statistics

Pro

Kowalyshen's Professional Indoor Football career spanned the course of 6 seasons with 4 teams and in 3 different leagues. ; Sioux City Bandits (2006) In

Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...

, Kowalyshen played under head coach Jose Jefferson with the Bandits of the

League for his rookie season. The team finished with a 6-9 record and clinched a playoff berth against the

Rock River Raptors The Rock River Raptors were a professional indoor football team based in Rockford, Illinois. The team was most recently a member of the Continental Indoor Football League. The franchise was established in 2000 as the Tennessee Valley Vipers, a ...

. In 16 games with the club, he led the team with 6.5 sacks for -39 yards. He also posted 9.5 tackles for loss, blocked 6 kicks and was 4th on the team in tackles with 52.5. Other statistics of note include 8 quarterback hits, 2 fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and a pass break-up. ; Chicago Slaughter (2007) Raptor in pursuit

Kowalyshen joined the Chicago Slaughter of the

(CIFL) in 2007, playing under head coach Steve "Mongo" McMichael. Kowalyshen led the team with 13 sacks in 12 regular season games, had 47.5 tackles and posted 3 blocked kicks in a single game (10 blocked kicks all season). In two playoff games with the 2007 Slaughter, Kowalyshen scored a defensive touchdown, a safety, blocked 2 kicks, had 7 tackles for loss, forced a fumble and added another sack. ; Rock River Raptors (2009) Remaining with the CIFL, Kowalyshen was traded to the

in 2009, playing under head coach Dave Jones. The highlight of Kowalyshen's year with the Raptors came when he tied the all-time CIFL single-game sack record with 4. His year-end sack total in 2009 was 12, an average of 1 per game. His statistics for 2009 included 62 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 6 blocked kicks, 3 forced fumbles, a safety and 1 fumble recovery. ; Chicago Slaughter (2010-2012) Kowalyshen proved to be a staple on defense for the Slaughter (now with the

IFL IFL may refer to: ;American football *Intense Football League, (2004–2008) in the United States, merged into the Indoor Football League *Indoor Football League, (2008–present) in the United States *Intercontinental Football League, a European l ...

) during the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons, contributing to 2 more berths in the playoffs. In 42 games for the Slaughter, Kowalyshen would post 131 tackles, 18 sacks, 16 blocked kicks, 19 tackles for loss, 6 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 5 pass break-ups, a safety and a defensive touchdown. The Slaughter had a combined record of 31-25 (2-3 playoffs) in his 4 years total with the team. ; Bloomington Extreme Initially for the 2012 season Kowalyshen had signed with Bloomington Extreme and started 3 games. Kowalyshen was notified of his release by the Extreme but was picked up immediately by the Slaughter once again.

Awards and honors

*1997 IHSA All-State Special Mention (Defense) *1998 IHSA All-State First Team (Defense) *1998 The West Suburban Gold Conference Defensive Player of the Year *2000 Appearance in the NJCAA

Dixie Rotary Bowl The Dixie Rotary Bowl was a college bowl game initiated by the St. George, Utah Rotary Club and hosted at Greater Zion Stadium, the home field of Dixie State Junior College in St. George, Utah. From 1986 to 2005, the game was a junior college b ...

vs Dixie State Rebels *2001 Appearance in the Canon Empire State Bowl ranked 16th nationally vs the 13th ranked

Nassau Community College Nassau Community College (NCC) is a public community college in Uniondale, New York, using the Garden City, New York ZIP Code. It was founded in 1959 and is part of the State University of New York. History Nassau Community College was crea ...

Lions *2002 Gateway All-Newcomer Award Recipient *2002-2003 Gateway All-Conference Award Recipient *2007 CIFL First-Team Defense *2007 CIFL Special Teams Player of the Week Honors (3 Blocked kicks in one game) *2009 CIFL Special Teams Player of the Week (4 sacks in one game)

Career highlights

ESPN's top 10 plays of the week in 2003 nationally televised Kowalyshen's sack technique of the Colgate University quarterback on a 4th down denial. Kowalyshen is also featured as a member of the

team on

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

' ''

NCAA Football 2003 ''NCAA Football 2003'' is a video game of the sports genre released in 2002 by EA Tiburon. Its cover athlete is former Oregon Ducks, Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints quarterback Joey Harrington. Several additi ...

'' video game. Kowalyshen's high school career sack record of 39, an IHSA all-time record, for

West Leyden High School West Leyden High School is a high school in Northlake, Illinois. First opened for enrollment in 1959, the athletic mascot of West Leyden High School was originally the Knights until 1981. At this time, the East and West Leyden High School athleti ...

, has stood unbroken since 1999.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kowalyshen, Jon American football defensive linemen Sioux City Bandits players Chicago Slaughter players Rock River Raptors players Bloomington Extreme players Harper Hawks football players Western Illinois Leathernecks football players Players of American football from Chicago