The regular season is in the books and we now get to look ahead to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. There were five teams that finished with a record of .500 or better in league and those crucial out of conference wins helped the league in the strength of schedule category.

Playoffs

New Haven finished off a perfect NE-10 season and is now the number two seed in SR1. They had been number one in the rankings for the first three weeks but were leapfrogged by Winston Salem in the final rankings. The Rams won the CIAA championship game over Elizabeth City last Saturday to get the nod for the top seed in the region.

The Chargers get a first round bye and will host the winner of the Kutztown/Concord matchup on November 26th. It is the first appearance for New Haven in the playoffs since they made it to the National Championship Game in 1997.

Record Books

Stonehill returner Stephan Neville put on a return clinic last Saturday at Assumption. He returned a kickoff for a touchdown and then for good measure took a punt back for a score to end his career on a high note.

He added to his already Division II kickoff return record when he took the kickoff back 77 yards for the touchdown to open the second half. It was the tenth of his career and tied him for the all-time record in any division of college football.

He then sealed the victory for the Skyhawks when he returned a punt for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter and matched the Division II record for total kick returns with the 11th of his career. Neville finished the afternoon with 234 total return yards.

Neville was a dynamic play maker that gave coaches fits over the past four years. They tried to kick the ball away from him but somehow the ball always ended up in his hands.

Seniors

Besides Neville's record breaking day, other seniors in the NE-10 had grand finales to close out their collegiate careers.

Merrimack quarterback James Suozzo was a double threat in helping rally the Warriors at Southern Connecticut. He amassed 319 yards of total offense as well as having a hand in three scores for Merrimack. He ran for a score and tossed the winning score in the fourth quarter to close out his stellar career.

Southern Connecticut running back Rashaad Slowley had another solid game with 219 yards on the ground and scored twice in the Owls' loss to Merrimack. He scored on runs of 45 and 63 yards in the game and finished out his career with a sensational senior campaign.

Assumption linebacker Nick DiAntonio was the usual force in the middle of the field as he recorded 13 tackles in the loss to Stonehill. Two of the 13 tackles were for a loss and he finished the season second in the league in total tackles with 106.

Pace running back Eric Santos had 123 yards on the ground in their loss to AIC. He also scored the lone touchdown for the Setters. Fellow teammate David Lopez had 13 tackles in the game including forcing a fumble. Lopez finished the season third in total tackles with 101.

Awards Season

2011 was a very competitive season in the NE-10. Five teams had a shot at winning the league but as predicted by the coaches, New Haven was the team to beat and they lived up to the expectations. Many players had solid seasons but here are my award winners.

Offensive Player of the Year

Rashaad Slowley, RB, Southern Connecticut

Slowley is the runaway winner for the offensive player of the year in 2011. He put the Southern Connecticut offense on his back at times and was spectacular the entire season. He finished the season with 1,584 yards on the ground and found the end zone 27 times.

He also hauled in 21 passes for 223 yards and two more scores for a total 29 touchdowns on the season. That set a Southern Connecticut school record for touchdowns in a season.

Slowley also had a number of games that most running backs would have had for an entire career. He scored six times in the victory at St. Anselm. He added another four in a win on the road against Assumption. In fact, he scored a touchdown in every game this season and scored three or more touchdowns in four separate games.

He also crossed the 200 yard mark in three games including a memorable second half effort at Assumption. He gained 236 yards in the second half alone to rally the Owls from a halftime deficit. He also ran for 219 yards in the season finale against Merrimack.

To put his season in perspective, he accounted for 174 points this season. He single handily outscored the entire team of Pace who scored just 87 points for the entire season. For all of times that he carried the ball this year, he only fumbled the ball five times including twice in a driving snowstorm on October 29th.

Slowley puts his name in the realm of top running backs to wear the Southern Connecticut uniform over the years.

Defensive Player of the Year

Shawn Loiseau, LB, Merrimack

He has been the most dominate defensive player in the past two years of the league. Loiseau always seemed to be around the ball and making a big tackle for Merrimack. Even as teams schemed to take him out of the play, he was able to overcome a blocker or two and still have an influence on the play.

He finished the season with 114 tackles including 47 of the solo variety. He was tied for sixth in the league with 15 tackles for a loss that also included three and a half quarterback sacks. He recorded double digits tackles in all but three games this season. He had a season high 19 tackles against Assumption including 12 solo tackles. He also recorded a least one tackle for a loss in the first seven games of the season.

Loiseau holds the all-time tackle record for Merrimack football and is held in very high regard by his head coach John Perry. He has helped to build a winning tradition for the program and set standards pretty high for future linebackers that put on the Warrior jersey.

His last three seasons have been some of the finest in the history of the league. He recorded 123 tackles in 2009 and topped that with 133 in 2010 which was good for second all-time in the NE-10. He will also finish with 375 career tackles with is good enough for third all-time in NE-10 history.

Coach of the Year

Peter Rossomando, New Haven

It is tough to give the award to the coach that team was picked to win the league. But Rossomando overcame a lot of adversity this year to get the Chargers to win their second straight NE-10 title and the number two seed in SR1 for the playoffs.

New Haven was on the cusp of the playoffs last year when they lost to St. Anselm in their final game of the season. They were out of the top ten in the region and the game left a sour taste in the month of the entire team. But Rossomando used that experience as motivation this season for the Chargers to finish with a 10-1 record, 8-0 in the NE-10.

It is only the third year of the resurrection of the New Haven football program and Rossomando has them well above any expectations that anyone thought except for anyone within the walls of the football offices.

He has done a fantastic job recruiting players that fit into his system and they have excelled on the field. To show the confidence that he has in his program, the team traveled to play then number five in the D1 FCS poll, William & Mary. The Chargers nearly pulled off the upset on the road and won a lot of support for their play in that game. They took care of business in the league and now look to do the same in the playoffs.

New Haven is the only New England team to play in the D2 National Championship Game and Rossomando was an assistant under then head coach and current Miami Dolphin head coach Tony Sparano for that team. He is used to coaching winning teams and it should be no surprise that he has built the program so quickly.

Team of the Year

Assumption Greyhounds

The conventional pick is the team that wins the title but I am going with the team that surprised me this year with their performance. True that Assumption finished the season at 4-6 but it was the way that they played in the losses that defined this team.

After a tough opening weekend loss to Bowie State, they won their first game of the season in dramatic fashion with a 28-21 overtime win at Seton Hill. They entered the NE-10 schedule with confidence but a tough slate in their first three games.

First they traveled to AIC where they lost 37-27. They jumped out to a 20-3 lead in the second quarter before they struggled to stop the AIC offense. They welcomed New Haven and Southern Connecticut for the next two weeks. They held New Haven to their lowest scoring output of the season in conference play in their 21-7 loss. The next game was a mirror image of the AIC game as they jumped out 21-7 at the half over Southern Connecticut.

They were not able to hold the lead or stop Rashaad Slowley and fell to the Owls 38-24. They finally put together a full 60 minute performance at Pace the following weekend in their 41-10 victory. The next weekend was their signature performance of the season.

They welcomed an undefeated in conference play Merrimack squad on a Friday night in the middle of October. They controlled the game from beginning to end with a 44-24 triumph over the Warriors. The Greyhounds won their third game in a row coming from behind in the snow at St. Anselm two weeks later.

They stumbled over the final two weeks of the season including 41-26 loss at Bentley and closed out the season with a 28-23 loss to Stonehill. They were not the best team in the league or the most exciting to watch at times during the season. But the way that head coach Cory Bailey and his staff had to juggle injuries week in and out was amazing. They had many reasons to give up and stop fighting after going through five quarterbacks in the first three weeks of the season.

It was supposed to be a rebuilding season in Worcester as a lot of key players graduated in 2010. But there was a solid foundation built underneath those departed seniors and it looks like Assumption has the ability to compete with any team in the league year in and year out.

Game of the Year

Southern Connecticut 48 AIC 47

Southern Connecticut and AIC always seem to play games that are very meaningful and ones to remember for years to come. October 22, 2011 was not different when the teams matched up for the 55th time in their history.

The first quarter was filled with offense as the teams combined for 34 points and both teams seemed to be scoring with ease. The defenses caught up in the final three quarters but the points were still being scored at a great clip.

AIC jumped out to a 34-14 lead towards the end of the first half before Rashaad Slowley took over for the Owls. He scored just before the half to cut the deficit to 34-21 and followed it up with two more scores in the third quarter. However, AIC still led the game going into the fourth quarter.

AIC quarterback Kevin Arduino found Trevor Perryman on the first play of the fourth quarter to extend the Yellow Jacket lead to 47-35. Both teams exchanged punts before Southern Connecticut came up with a big play to save the game.

On first and 10 from the Owls' 20 yard line, Gavin Nelson forced a fumble and it was recovered by Steven Teague at the 14 yard line. Kevin Lynch then masterminded two scoring drives to help Southern Connecticut come from behind.

He found Willie Epps in the end zone with 1:34 left in the game to cut the lead to six, 47-41. AIC recovered the ensuing onsides kick but the offense was not able to get a first down to seal the game. Southern used all three of their timeouts and stopped a fourth and two at the 30 yard line to set up the winning drive.

Lynch connected with Epps and Andre Privott on four passes to get the ball down to the AIC 7 yard line with seven seconds left. After an AIC timeout, Lynch hit Epps over the middle for the touchdown to tie the score at 47. Chris Hazelton kicked the extra point and Southern Connecticut had their first lead since early in the first quarter.

Both teams combined for 1,105 yards of total offense in this thrilling game with Southern Connecticut leading the way with 614 yards in the victory. One other stat that stands out is that both teams were three for four apiece on fourth down attempts in the game.