Lumberton, N.J., native receives regional award for first time

EASTON, Mass. (November 26, 2012) – Stonehill College senior defensive back Jareed Gaines (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) has been selected to the New England Football Writers Division II/III All-New England team. The team, presented by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston, will be honored at the New England Football Writers Banquet on Thursday, December 6, at the Montvale Plaza, in Stoneham, Mass.

Gaines earns All-New England honors for the first time after collecting All-Northeast-10 Conference accolades for the second straight year with his first team award earlier this month after being named to the second team his junior year. Gaines, named the d2football.com Northeast-10 Defensive Player of the Year, led the Stonehill defense with 103 tackles, ranking second in the NE-10 and 22^nd nationally. He leads the NE-10 with 63 solo tackles (4^th nationally) and three forced fumbles (21^st), while ranking fourth in the Conference with 9.5 tackles for a loss of 25 yards, including 2.0 sacks for a loss of eight yards, ten pass breakups (4^th NE-10) and three quarterback hurries.

Gaines, who earned NE-10 Defensive Player of the Week honors once this season (fourth career), posted the sixth-highest tackle and solo tackle totals in program history this fall. He heads a Stonehill defense which leads the NE-10 with 26 turnovers gained, ranks second (22^nd nationally) for pass efficiency defense (107.93) and is third for total defense (356.4 yds/gm), scoring defense (21.8 ppg) and sacks (25).

Gaines, a second team Daktronics All-Super Region 1 pick as a junior, has played 39 games over his career at Stonehill and ranks third in program history with 313 tackles, while his 167 solo stops are good for fourth all-time. His career tackle total ranks seventh in Northeast-10 history and he has set career records for the Skyhawks with two fumble returns for touchdowns, 121 fumble return yards, ten fumble recoveries and six blocked kicks, while ranking second all-time with seven forced fumbles and five fumble returns. Gaines also ranks fourth all-time with 39.0 tackles for loss and ten quarterback hurries and fifth with 146 assisted tackles and 19 pass breakups. He has also compiled 11 career sacks.

Stonehill finished its 2012 season with a 5-5 record overall, including a 5-3 clip in Northeast-10 play to mark the Skyhawks first winning season in Conference play since head coach Robert Talley's first season in 2007. Stonehill was named the Northeast-10 "Team of the Year" by d2football.com, while Talley received the website's Conference Coach of the Year and the Skyhawks' nationally-televised matchup with No. 3 University of New Haven was labeled as blog's NE-10 Game of the Year.