The two-way play of Foxcroft Academy football standout Peter Boyer was recognized in two significant ways last weekend.
The senior halfback-linebacker was named a semifinalist for the Fitzpatrick Trophy, and then he was named the Big Ten Conference (Eastern Maine Class C) player of the year.
Boyer led the Ponies to the regional semifinals by ranking third among conference rushers with 1,310 yards in 10 games along with 21 touchdowns, and he also was among the Big Ten’s leading tacklers with 119 stops and three pass interceptions. He earned first-team all-conference status on both offense and defense.
Boyer, whose older brother Donnie was named 2012 LTC player of the year after leading Foxcroft to the Class C state title, finished his high school football career with 2,710 rushing yards, 35 rushing touchdowns, 302 tackles and six interceptions.
Also recognized during the Big Ten postseason banquet was Foxcroft coach Danny White, named the conference’s coach of the year.
White guided the Ponies to a 7-3 record this fall, bringing his career mark to 45-18 over six seasons. It’s the second coach-of-the-year award in three years for White, who earned similar honors in the LTC two years ago.
Keith Holland of Belfast, who teamed with head coach Chris Bartlett to lead Belfast to its second straight regional semifinal appearance this fall, was named the Big Ten’s assistant coach of the year.
Bucksport senior Matthew Stewart was recognized on both the athletic and academic fronts during the annual LTC Class D football postseason banquet Sunday.
The veteran quarterback, who a day earlier was named a semifinalist for the Fitzpatrick Trophy symbolic of the state’s top senior student-athlete in football, was the recipient of the LTC’s Art Greenlaw Player of the Year Award.
The three-year starter proved to be one of the most accurate passers in LTC history throughout his career, and Stewart’s senior season proved to be no exception.
He completed 76 of 120 passes — a 63 percent accuracy rate — for 1,030 yards with 18 touchdowns and just three interceptions this fall while leading coach Joel Sankey’s club to a 7-1 regular-season record.
Stewart went on to complete 20 of 33 passes for 214 yards in two postseason games as the Golden Bucks advanced to the LTC championship game
Stewart was selected for the Greenlaw Award from a slate of finalists that included Daytona Gould of Dexter, Devin Wright of Ellsworth-Sumner, Jake Drew of Houlton, Jackson Leonard of John Bapst of Bangor, Jon Libby of Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln, Jonathan Santiago of Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield, Trevor Saucier of Mount View of Thorndike, Tom Lucy of Orono, Nick Dumas of Stearns of Millinocket and Dakota Cates-Wright of Washington Academy of East Machias.
Stewart also was named recipient of the seventh annual Silvernail Academic Scholar Award, a $3,000 scholarship awarded to an LTC player based on academic merit involving such criteria as cumulative grade-point average and classes taken such as honors classes and advanced placement classes.
The award is named for Andy Silvernail, who played offensive guard and linebacker at Bucksport during the 1980s and went on to play at Dartmouth until a back injury curtailed his career.
Silvernail is a business executive who, with his wife, Shelby, established the football-related scholarship as an expression of gratitude for what playing the sport and in particular playing in the LTC meant in shaping his life.
MCI’s Tom Bertrand was named the LTC’s Dale Curry Coach of the Year Award. He guided the Huskies to an undefeated regular season and their first conference crown in 14 years. MCI’s 10-1 season and appearance in the Class D state championship game capped off a remarkable rebound for a program that went winless just two years earlier.
The Ellsworth-Sumner Eagles were the recipient of the Eastern Maine Board of Football Officials’ team sportsmanship award.
