Cole, D'Onofrio, Stout Earn Worcester All-Star Honors
WORCESTER, Mass.—Three members of the Anna Maria College football team were named to the 26th Annual Steve "Merc" Morris All-Star Team, awarded by the Worcester Area Football Association. Members of the all-star team are voted on by the Sports Information Directors of the eight member football colleges in Worcester County.
The Worcester Area Football Association All-Star Team is named in memory of Steve "Merc" Morris, the longtime Assistant Director of Athletics for Media Relations and Assumption Hall of Famer. Morris was a 1972 graduate of Assumption and was a member of the athletics staff for 39 years before he passed away in January of 2011.
In addition to being the founder of the Worcester Area Association All-Star Program, Morris was a tireless supporter of collegiate athletics and had a key role in the lives of thousands of student-athletes.
Anna Maria student-athletes earning recognition are sophomore offensive lineman Dan Stout (Mercerville, N.J.), sophomore running back Joseph D'Onofrio (Everett, Mass.) and sophomore kicker Francis Cole (Maspeth, N.Y.)
A first year member of the Worcester All-Star Team, Stout was named to the offensive line second team. Earlier this season Stout also earned recognition from the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) as he was named to their Honorable Mention Team. He appeared in seven of the ten games the AMCATS played this year and brought a great deal of strength to the offensive line.
Joseph D'Onofrio was named to the Worcester All-Star second team as a return specialist. He made 36 kick returns this season for a total of 846 yards and ran 48 yards for his longest return in the AMCATS loss at Becker on Nov. 12th. D'Onofrio also notched 25 punt returns for a total of 120 yards. His longest punt return was 18 yards against Norwich at home. He rushed for a total of 371 yards this season averaging 37.1 yards per game and made 17 receptions for a total of 146 yards. D'Onofrio was also recognized by the ECFC this season earning honorable mention as a return specialist.
Francis Cole is also a first year member of the Worcester All-Star Team. He was named to the Worcester All-Star First Team as a punter. Cole was recently named to the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III North, All-Star first team as part of the special teams. He was also named to the ECFC First Team and Honorable Mention Team earlier this season. Cole finished the season second in the nation for his punting game in Division III football. He made a great deal of impact with both his punting and kicking game this season. He punted 78 times for a total of 3,519 yards while averaging 45.1 yards. He notched his longest career punt going 77 yards and his longest field goal, from 48 yards, on the road at Curry on Sept. 17th. He was ten-for-ten in extra point attempts and 1-for-7 in field goal attempts this season.
The major award winners included freshman quarterback Chris Mullins (Centreville, V.A.) of Nichols College as the Offensive Player of the Year while senior linebacker Brian Murtagh (Wayland, Mass.) from WPI and senior linebacker Matthew McEvilly (Clinton, Mass.) from Nichols were tabbed Co-Defensive Players of the Year.
Sophomore placekicker Cole Tracy (Camarillo, Calif.) of Assumption earned Special Teams Player of the Year for the second year in a row and freshman running back Sean McAllen (Prospect, Conn.) from WPI was named Freshman of the Year. Head Coach at Nichols, Dale Olmsted was granted Coach of the Year honors.
