Felder had a record-breaking breakout season for the Skyhawks to earn D2Football.com Offensive Player of the Year accolades (PHOTO BY Mike Tureski/SportsPix) |
Felder named the website's NE10 Offensive Player of the Year
Gardner selected as the website's NE10 Coach of the Year
D2Football.com's Paul Falewicz announces host 2019 NE10 Awards
EASTON, Mass. (November 19, 2019) – Stonehill College sophomore running back Justin Felder and head coach Eli Gardner have been recognized by D2Football.com Northeast-10 Conference columnist Paul Falewicz for their efforts during the 2019 season in his end of the year awards column.
Felder is the first Stonehill student-athlete to earn the website's NE10 Offensive Player of the Year, while Gardner is the second to earn its NE10 Coach of the Year award after Robert Talley collected the honors at the end of the 2012 season.
Felder had a breakout sophomore season for Stonehill, posting school-records for rushing attempts (236), yards (1,513), touchdowns (16), total touchdowns (18), scoring (108 points) and all-purpose yards (1,611) in the Skyhawks ten games, starting the last eight after senior running back Brian Kearns, Jr. went down with an injury in the first quarter of the Skyhawks second game of the year. Felder leads the NE10 in each category listed above, ranking fourth in Division II for rushing yards, sixth for rushing touchdowns, seventh for total touchdowns, ninth in points scored, 12th in all-purpose and 23rd for attempts.
Gardner |
Felder |
Felder earned NE10 Offensive Player of the Week honors a program-record four times over the course of the season in which he posted the first 100-point and 1,500-yard rushing season in program history, also being named the New England Football Writers Division II/III Gold Helmet Award recipient once. He surpassed 100-yards in seven of ten games and is the first running back in NE10 history to rush for over 300-yards in back to back weeks. Felder set a school-record with his 314 yards on 24 carries with two touchdowns, averaging a program-best 13.1 yards per carry, in Stonehill's 41-20 win over Southern Connecticut State University. He followed that up with 311 yards on a career-high 40 carries and four touchdowns, with three rushing and another receiving in the Skyhawks 34-22 win over Pace University. He scored three touchdowns in the first quarter of the 38-14 win at Saint Anselm College and then capped his season with 164 yards on 27 carries with two touchdowns against a University of New Haven team that led the NE10 and ranked tenth nationally for rushing defense at 82.6 yards per game – which Felder had eclipsed by halftime.
Felder is already quickly moving up Stonehill's career rushing leaders after just 18 games played through his first two seasons. He ranks third in program history with his 18 career rushing touchdowns, which is just six shy of the program record of 24 by Eddie Vachon '11 and Kearns, Jr., while ranking seventh with 1,942 career yards, eighth with 21 total touchdowns and ninth with 331 rushing attempts.
Gardner led a Stonehill team picked sixth in the NE10 preseason poll in August after a 2-8 season a year ago, to a 6-4 record overall, including 5-3 in the NE10, this fall. He brought the Skyhawks within a win of claiming their second NE10 Championship, posting the Conference's lone out of conference win with its 33-14 season-opening win at Bloomsburg (Pa.) University – marking the Skyhawks third-straight win over the Huskies in Pennsylvania.
Gardner earns his first Coach of the Year recognition from D2Football.com (PHOTO BY Jan Volk/SportsPix) |
Stonehill showed vast improvements on both side of the ball in 2019, leading the NE10 in total offense (415.8 yards per game), total defense (307.5 – 30th nationally), pass defense (162.5 – 14th), pass efficiency defense (110.46 – 33rd), first down defense (15.1/gm – 9th), completion percentage (62.5% - 17th), third down defense (27% - 5th) and third down offense (47.1% - 21st). The Skyhawks are also second in the NE10 for scoring defense (21.1 ppg) and third for rush defense (145.0 yds/gm).
Gardner has led Stonehill to a 19-22 (.463) record over his four seasons as head coach. The 2015 Division II Assistant Coach of the Year by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston took over as head coach in 2016 after serving as an assistant coach under Talley for seven years, including five seasons as the defensive coordinator. Gardner was selected to participate in the 2018 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute, presented by the AFCA and NCAA Leadership Development, during the 2018 AFCA Convention.
Stonehill has received the NE10 Team Academic Award for having the highest team grade point average among NE10 football programs the last two years. Five Skyhawks have earned NE10 Academic All-Conference honors over Gardner's first three years and two have been named CoSIDA Academic All-District, including junior right tackle Derek Ivey this fall. Stonehill has collected 15 All-NE10 honors over Gardner's first three seasons at the helm.
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