The Skyhawks earned the NE10 Team Academic Excellence Award for the first time. (PHOTO BY Jan Volk/SportsPix) |
Skyhawks lead Conference football programs with 3.052 team GPA over 2017-18 academic year
NE10 Announces Team Academic Excellence Award recipients
EASTON, Mass. (July 12, 2018) – The Stonehill College football program has been recognized for its efforts in the classroom by receiving the Northeast-10 Conference Team Academic Excellence Award, the Conference office has announced.
Stonehill football earned a 3.052 team grade point average over the 2017-18 academic year to lead the NE10's ten football programs. NE10 Team Academic Excellence Awards honor the programs with the highest team GPA in each of the Conference's 24 sports throughout the academic year. In total, 73% of the league's 295 teams achieved a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher. The highest team GPA by sport is recognized and the teams that are awarded receive a plaque to commemorate their accomplishment. The College is also one of 11 NE10 members to have each of its athletic programs receive 3.0 team GPAs over the course of the year.
"I could not be more proud of how our student-athletes have attacked their academics this past year," said second year head coach Eli Gardner. "As a coaching staff, we challenged our players to achieve both on the field and in the classroom, and they responded. You can have a great athletic experience without sacrificing your academic experience, and our guys are proving that."
Stonehill's football program has 54 of its student-athletes owning a 3.0 cumulative grade point average or above after the spring 2018 semester. Sophomore defensive tackle Michael Curtin (Sterling, Massachusetts/Nashoba Regional) earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average each semester over the last academic year as 18 Skyhawks have received a 3.50 cumulative GPA or higher. Stonehill football placed 65 if its student-athletes on the NE10 Commissioner's Honor Roll for having a semester GPA of 3.0 or better during the spring semester.
Recent graduates Matt Foltz (Mount Joy, Pennsylvania/The Hill School) and Donovan Phanor (Portsmouth, New Hampshire/Portsmouth) both collected NE10 Academic All-Conference honors as seniors, with Foltz, a three-time NE10 Academic All-Conference pick, receiving the Jack Daly Award for Academics, Citizenship and Football from the Jack Grinold/Eastern Massachusetts Chapter of the National Football Foundation and being selected as a NFF & Hall of Fame William V. Campbell Trophy semifinalist. Phanor earned Google Cloud/CoSIDA Academic All-District honors as a senior and was an Arthur Ashe, Jr., Sports Scholar semifinalist.
Stonehill capped its 2017 season with a 6-4 record overall, marking its third finish above .500 over the last five years, including a 5-4 mark in the NE10, with its fourth winning season in Conference play over the last six years. The Skyhawks will open their 2018 season when they host Fairmont State University on Friday, August 31, at 6 p.m.
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