Awards given to members of fall grid squad
The Hillsborough High School football team came together Wednesday, Dec. 11, for its annual banquet to celebrate the team’s accomplishments. Hillsborough finished the year 5-5 and missed the playoffs by a few power points, but finished the year strong and look forward to next season.
Head Coach Kevin Carty graduated his first three-year class of seniors and, in a heartfelt speech, showed the strong bond he has built with his players. As each senior shook hands with Coach Carty and the coaching staff when receiving their senior awards. it was obvious these young men enjoyed their high school football careers and will miss the friends they made with each other and the coaching staff.
The graduating seniors are Jordan Aquino, Brandon Bagdan, Chris Bayer, Dan Erceg, Bill Ge, Jeizel Hernandez, Trevor Lazicky, Dan Leddy, Tyler Lennon-Murdock, Erin Moore, Rob Nittolo, Shane Nuara, Jacob Patrick, Jack Ryan, Fredo Santorelli, Cedre Small, Anthony Stavrakis, Russell Surace, Marco Toresco, Jeff Wickman and Andrew Zitel.
Junior and sophmore varsity letterwinners are Kyle Bergan, Joshua Brown, Austin Burk, Andrew Cowan, Victor Delrio, Michale DiAlfonso, Matt Doring, Zach Eilbacher, Connor Genes, Kevin Jackson, Scot Levonaitis, Matt Matson, Frank McCarter, John McDonald, Ryan Melillo, Paul Michinard, Hayden Panagos, Ben Pasternack, Andrew Patrizio, Matthew Pellicane, Isaac Reeves, Jared Senerchia, Dan Stoddard, Alex Stollery, Robert Toth and Ed Trimpert.
Every senior received a Hillsborough Touchdown Raider Association Scholarship, with Anthony Stavrakis received a special association award for writing the selected essay about what playing football at Hillsborough High School has meant to him.
The Shaun O’Hara Award for the best offensive lineman was awarded to senior Jacob Patrick. The Jeff Kelly Award for the best defensive lineman was awarded to senior Fredo Santorelli. The Joe Paulino Award for the best special team player was awarded to junior Ed Trimpert.
The Ricky Proehl Award for the best receiver was awarded to junior Scot Levonaitis. The Fred Kiper Award for best player on both sides of the ball went to junior Jared Senerchia. The Otto Gsell Award for best defensive player was shared by seniors Anthony Stavrakis and Jordan Aquino.
The Shawn Mayer Award for best offensive player was awarded to senior Andrew Zitel. The Joe Adochio Award for MVP was awarded to Rob Nittolo.
The junior and sophomore junior varsity awards are Trevor Dougherty, Nick Fodera, mark Pagano, Brenden VanDoren, Joseph Versaci, Jon Colon, Adam Columbia, Nick, DiGiorlamo, Mike Engelhardt, Josh Evans, Mike Everett, Alfred Fisher, John Getz, Kai Hall, Andres Hernandez, Ryan Kassick, Kyle Kaufman, Cole Lewis, Joe Paolillo, Rohan Patel, Tyler Sanfillippo, Shayok Sarkar, Zach Sopko, Omar Sultan, Alex Trani, Ben Trybulski, Victor Vargas, Zach Williams and Dillon Zimmerman.
Freshman award winners are Saddiq Adkins, Jeff Alboum, Greg Alboum, David Amankwaa, Chris Ciccone, Nicholas Coira, Deandre Curtis, Evan Dunigan, Jack Fenimore, Jordan Foust, Jackson Goetz, Christian Graverson, Chris Grouss, Jakob Harmon, Matt Hendrix, Kent Hilden, Luke Jansen, Kofi Koranteng, Ellis Lar-Moore, Leonardo Pierre, Jacob Lubas, Kierre Mayer, Josh McDevitt, Brandon Moore, Bailey Nehila, Brandon Nitschke, Karnik Patel, Nick Pezza, Jacob Pollack, Collin Purdy, Sam Radowitz, Kyle Richardson, Steven Rudd, Joseph Schultz, Skyler Springs, W. Connor Stack, Ryan Stroka, Michael Surace, Matt Toste, Ben Versaci, Tim Walker and Brett Willey.
The team thanks all the Touchdown Club officers and members, the committee chairs and all the fans who supported the team this season.