St. Mary’s football celebrates season with banquet

LYNN – The St. Mary’s football team celebrated only the second double-digit win season in its history with an awards banquet Tuesday night at the Knights of Columbus in Lynn.The Spartans went 10-1 during the regular season, with only a loss to Cardinal Spellman keeping them out of the post-season. The last (and only other) Spartan team to finish with that many regular-season wins was the 2005 Division 3A Super Bowl champions.The Spartans achieved this year’s record in the third season of coach Matt Durgin’s tenure. Durgin took over in 2008 after the Spartans suffered through two single-win seasons in succession.Tuesday, Todd Collier, the junior running back/defensive back who was also The Item’s defensive player of the year, received the Spartan Award, indicative of the team’s MVP.Another junior, Nick Day, received the offensive MVP award while Corey Bartlett, a senior, was named the defensive player of the year.The rest of the awards went as follows: Defensive Line, Joe Chau; offensive line, Rich Eddows; special teams, Jonathan Kazadi; coaches awards, Steve Carroll and Jonathan Capano; most dedicated, Ian Grocki; scout team offense, Jake Dyer; scout team defense, Jack Simpson; Father John Dillon Day commitment and service award, Pat Hogan; Arthur McManus award, Ryan Barrows; ironman award, Guychard Samson; unsung player, Xavier Gonzalez; team spirit, Nick Papanastasiou.Durgin also recognized scholar athletes from each class: D.J. Webster, senior; Andrew Olson, junior; Steven Bourque, sophomore; Paul Halas, freshman.Junior varsity awards went to: Darian Eddows, top offensive lineman; Chris Soundis, top defensive lineman; Nick Lee, top defensive player; Cory Donahue, top offensive player; Marvin Bony, coaches award.Freshman awards went to: Jake Cassidy, offense; Jordan Manthorne, defense; Christian Abarca, offensive line; Rodolpho Jiminez, defensive line; Mike Hayward, coaches award.