| Nick Chiocco: "I am the NE-10" |
EASTON, Mass. (January 19, 2016) - Stonehill College senior defensive lineman Nick Chiocco (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield) recently represented the College and football program as a member of the 2015 Allstate/American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Good Works Team at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana. Below are photos and videos, as well as Nick's observations from his trip. He brought his father, Steven, as his guest on the trip, while the remainder of his family met them in New Orleans later in the trip.
Chiocco Heads to New Allstate Sugar Bowl with Good Works Team
Chiocco Named to Allstate/AFCA Good Works Team
| Wednesday, December 30, 2015 |
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After a restless night of sleep because of my anxiousness for the trip, I woke up at 4:15 to get ready for the flight in Boston at 7:15. |
My dad and I hopped on the plane ready to start our trip! |
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Passing over states like West Virginia, Kentucky, & Arkansas, we made our way down to Texas. |
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We landed at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport in Texas at 11:30. |
We grabbed some lunch during our layover and then took our next flight from Texas to New Orleans. |
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| We arrived at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport at 2:15 and was greeted with some live Jazz Music. |
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We were directed to the Allstate Hospitality Suite where we met some of my teammates, had some appetizers, and watched the bowl games on the TVs in the room. |
There was a team meeting at 4:30 in which we met all the players of the Allstate Good Works Team and got to learn about what everyone has done to receive this prestigious award. We then had the higher-ups involved with Allstate/Octagon talk about the schedule for the next couple of days. |
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From the meeting, we headed to the Usher concert by walking from the hotel with the team and our guests…Everyone's first look at New Orleans! |
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Ended up being in the front row with everyone at the Usher concert (Allstate Fan Fest). |
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After leaving the concert, my Dad & I went out to dinner and had some delicious New Orleans cuisine, then walked around Bourbon Street to finish the first day/night! |
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| Thursday, December 31, 2015 | ||||
Met with the team in the Hospitality Suite at 8:00, then departed for Isidore Newman High School. |
After an overview of the day by the coach who ran the clinic, we went out to the field and got ready to see the campers. |
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I was picked as a Running Back and a Defensive Line coach, and we ran through offensive and defensive drills with the kids. As I was doing the RB drills, NFL Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk came over and coached some of the kids up. After the drills, we played some 7v7 games vs. other teams and had a blast! |
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From there, we headed to the first ever Allstate Sugar Bowl Parade! As we pulled up to the float, both the Oklahoma State and the Ole Miss band & float were right in front of us, so we were able to listen to them warm up while looking at our float among the long line of other floats to be in the parade. |
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After waiting for a little bit, we were able to climb up to the top of our float and get ready to be in the parade! |
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When we got into the actual city we were like woah, this is actually a big deal! There are so many people! |
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My family and girlfriend just arrived to New Orleans that day, and their first stop after dropping off their bags at the hotel was to see me in the parade, and I found them! |
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Right after getting off the float, I got to see my family and girlfriend. I was so excited for them to come to New Orleans and experience this trip with me! |
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At night, Allstate threw a New Years Eve Gala in which my girlfriend and I, Gina attended and had a blast. |
After leaving the gala around 11, we were able to watch the ball drop (even though it was recorded because it was an hour behind) with my whole family and my girlfriend. |
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| Friday, January 1, 2016 |
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The next morning, in preparation of the Sugar Bowl later that day, they had a breakfast for us and our guests. We were then introduced at the Allstate company brunch and told that we were going to be presented with an award at halftime of the Sugar Bowl. |
Marshall Faulk was one of the speakers at the breakfast and my Dad and I were able to get a picture with him. |
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After breakfast, we headed to the famous Café Du Monde with my family and girlfriend and although the line was extremely long, it went surprisingly fast. |
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The Beignets were delicious! I cleaned up the mess the beignets made when we got back to the hotel, and then headed to the Mercedes Benz Superdome with the fellow members of the Good Works Team! |
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We pulled up to Superdome, more anxious than ever to get onto the field! |
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At the suite, we played corn hole and foosball, had a ton of food, and were able to watch the Rose Bowl. |
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We were then lead to the suite where we were going to watch the game from, and it was an incredible view right on the 50-yard line. |
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We got onto the field, and watched the game from the sideline until it reached halftime. While I was on the field, an Assumption grad came up to me and was talking about being from the NE-10, and congratulated me on the award & the trip. |
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Nick and Tim Tebow on the sideline of the Sugar Bowl. Tebow was covering the game for ESPN. |
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Once it was halftime, we went on to field like we practiced and smiled for the camera! |
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Allstate/AFCA Goodworks Team introduction as seen on ESPN's Sugar Bowl coverage |
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We ended up going back in to the changing room from before and watched ourselves on TV because the recording was slightly delayed. We freaked out when we saw ourselves. |
After we got off the field, we were asked by a photographer to hold up our #ConnerStrong bracelets for our teammate, James Conner, who was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma and unable to attend the trip. |
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We were then lead back up to the suite to watch the game and after watching the 3rd quarter, we decided to leave the game early in the 4th quarter. |
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| Saturday, January 2, 2016 | ||||
To leave, my Dad and I had another early wake up call at 4:30 and caught a flight at 7:30 from Louisiana to North Carolina. |
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