BANGOR, Maine — The Husson University football team captured its first Eastern Collegiate Football Conference title this season, and in turn, it has been honored with a school-record and conference-best 12 All-ECFC honorees and four major award winners.
The four winners are Gabby Price, Coach of the Year; Stephan Dance, Defensive Player of the Year; Alex Young, Offensive Lineman of the Year; and John Smith, Rookie of the Year.
Price, in his eighth season and second stint that began last season, led the Eagles to its first conference title and first home ECFC playoff contest. After the team fell in its first game of the season, the Eagles reeled off eight-consecutive wins, including a perfect 7-0 mark in conference play.
Dance, a senior defensive back and captain from New London, Connecticut, notched 6.9 tackles per game to go with four pass breakups, two interceptions and a forced fumble to lead a defense that gave up just 17.4 tackles per game. He is Husson’s all-time leader with 340 tackles.
Young, a senior offensive lineman from Rockland, anchored a line that gained an ECFC-best 365 yards per contest and cleared the way for the ECFC’s leading rusher in Smith.
Smith, a first-year running back from Fayetteville, Georgia, led the conference with 127.1 rush yards per game and had a league-leading and first year school-record 13 touchdowns.
Joining Smith and Young on the All-Conference offensive first team are sophomore wide receiver Deon Wiggins of Bridgeport, Connecticut, senior offensive lineman Matt Archer of Chesterville and senior return specialist Shabashe McIntosh of Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Joining Dance on the first team defense is sophomore linebacker Ellis Throckmorton of Bangor, and junior quarterback Joe Seccareccia of Bangor was named to the second team offense.
Other second-team offensive picks included senior tight end Caleb King of Cumberland, and linemen Matt Pellerin and Luke Washburn and back Kenny Sweet were named to the second team on defense.
Husson hosts MIT in the football program’s first NCAA Tourney game at noon Saturday.
Three commit to UMaine basketball
Lavar Harewood, Ilija Stojilkovic and Devine Eke have committed to the University of Maine men’s basketball team for the 2015-16 season, head coach Bob Walsh announced in a news release Thursday.
“All three players we feel will fit our culture well,” Walsh said in the release. “They’re high character kids, have talent that we feel we can win the league with and all fit well together. We feel really good about what we’ve been able to do in this early period.”
Harewood, a 6-2 shooting guard from Brooklyn, New York, is headed into his third season at the Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts, and helped Brooks finish 21-6 and second in the Independent School League.
Stojilkovic, doesn’t have far to travel to attend his new basketball home, as the 6-7 forward comes from Lee Academy. He recently had a successful season with OKK Nibac of the Junior League of Serbia averaging 15.7 points, nine rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.9 steals.
Eike, a 6-6 Plainfield, New Jersey, native graduated from Union Catholic High School and is playing at the Robinson School in Bayone, New Jersey. As a senior at Union Catholic, Eke averaged 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots per game.