Item All-Star banquet recognizes football’s finest

SAUGUS – The finest players that North Shore high school football had to offer this season were honored on Monday night at the Hilltop Steak House as a part of the 66th annual Item All-Star Football Banquet.Four players and two coaches were recipients of the major awards, led by St. Mary’s senior Todd Collier, who became the third Spartan to receive the Item’s Player of the Year trophy.Click here for a photo gallery.Collier was named the Item/Agganis Defensive Player of the Year a season ago and he took his game to another level this year, rushing for 1,701 yards, 28 touchdowns and racking up an Eastern Mass.-leading 196 points despite playing four quarters only three times during the year.”It’s kind of crazy,” Collier said. “I was hoping for something like this, really, but there were a lot of talented players. We had a great season and the coaches did a great job.”The Item/Agganis Offensive Player of the Year was Marblehead’s Will Quigley, who rushed for 1,248 yards and 18 touchdowns in being named the NEC/CAL Tier 2 Offensive Player of the Year. He was at his best on Thanksgiving when his 150 yards and two touchdowns helped the Magicians claim an improbable league title.”We kind of flew under the radar all year,” Quigley said. “But we, as a team, believed in ourselves all year.”For his efforts on the sidelines, Quigley’s coach, Jim Rudloff, was also recognized as he shared the Coach of the Year honors with Lynn English’s Peter Holey.Both Holey and Rudloff’s teams came into the year not expected to contend for league titles, but they finished with 9-3 and 8-3 records, respectively, with the Bulldogs reaching the postseason for the first time since 1990.”I’m proud to share this with Jim,” Holey said. “He did a fantastic job with his team this season. And we were able to finally get up to that next level.”The Magicians had to overcome a deflating and what could have been demoralizing loss to Newburyport in their final non-league game. They showed their resolve with five straight wins to close the regular season.”We had a lot of different things happen this year,” Rudloff said. “And that gave the kids a little bit of humility and it really bonded them together.”The Item/Agganis Defensive Player of the Year trophy went to English senior linebacker P.J. Dorsey, who had 124 tackles, seven sacks and two interceptions while rushing for 1,169 yards and 14 touchdowns on offense.The Bulldogs wound up being shut out by Everett in the Division 1A playoffs, but that didn’t diminish the program’s accomplishments, according to Dorsey.”We really did have a great year,” Dorsey said. “It was special to see everything we’ve worked for the last couple years pay off.”Arguably the most prestigious award of the night is the William F. Connell Scholar Athlete Award, which takes in performance on the field and in the classroom.Perhaps no player epitomized that balance better than Swampscott’s Mike Walsh, the NEC/CAL Tier 2 MVP.The Brown-bound senior threw for 2,129 yards and 25 touchdowns while also rushing for 930 yards and 13 touchdowns. More impressively, Walsh carries a 92.3 average and is ranked 32nd in the senior class at Swampscott.”It’s a great honor,” Walsh said. “I saw Peter Yasi get this last year and he was a great student. It’s tough to manage both academics and athletics but I have great parents who are always there to help me.”