It is that time of the season when my Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards are handed out as well as Coach of the Year and Game of the Year.

Here are my selections for the 2014 season.


Offensive Player of the Year

Steve Laurino, QB, LIU Post

Laurino had a season for the ages as he led LIU Post to an 8-3 overall record, a NE-10 Championship trophy and a berth in the Division II playoffs. He was also named MVP of the championship game after tossing five scores and running for another one. He had a hand in all but a couple of touchdowns for the Post offense this year.

He led the league with 18 rushing touchdowns, eight better than second place. He was second in the league with 28 passing touchdowns. He even caught a touchdown pass against AIC to account for an amazing 47 touchdowns on the season. The Post offense averaged nearly 35 points per game this year.

Laurino had at least one passing and one rushing touchdown in all 11 games of the regular season. In fact in the two league losses, he had just one passing touchdown in each game.

"It starts with Steven," head coach Bryan Collins said of his quarterback. "Obviously, he has been a great player for us and we are going to miss him a lot. "

For the season, he completed 61% of his passes to 10 different receivers. He has 3,305 yards passing and threw just 11 interceptions.

"He is a triple threat with everything that he does," Collins said. "He gets us in and out of great plays. He is a great manager of the football game."

Laurino also leads the team in rushing yards with 602 and will go down as one of the best quarterbacks that Post has ever seen.


Defensive Player of the Year

Derrick Mann, DL, Assumption

Mann was a one man wreaking crew on the defensive line for the Assumption Greyhounds. He dominated other offensive lines despite having double and triple teaming against him all season long.

He finished the 2014 season with 14.5 sacks to lead the league. He also had 19.5 tackles for a loss in which also led the NE-10 this year. He had a tackle for a loss in all but two games this year.

He was a big reason why Assumption finished in third place with a 7-4 record this year. After a slow start to the season, he recorded sacks in seven of the last eight games including a four game stretch that he had multiple sacks in each game.

Mann also recorded 70 tackles including a season high 11 tackles against Bentley on November 1st. He was credited with eight solo tackles in that game.

For the season, he also forced five fumbles and recovered three of them. He returned one of those fumbles for a touchdown against Pace in October.

He was a big part of a defense that allowed just 19 points this season which led the NE-10.


Coach of the Year

Patrick Murphy, St. Anselm

Murphy led St. Anselm to their first winning season since 2000 as the Hawks finished 6-5. The team was picked ninth in the preseason coaches' poll but exceeded expectations by winning their first five games of the season.

St. Anselm defeated Southern Connecticut on the road and Bentley for the first time in school history this year to help them vault to the top of the NE-10 standings. The Hawks were grounded in the month of October and early November as they dropped four straight games.

But a last second victory over New Haven secured the first winning season for Murphy in his career and a fifth place regular season finish. He entered the season with 10 victories over the previous seven years and never finishing above ninth place in the league.


Team of the Year

St. Anselm Hawks

It is an obvious choice for team of the year as St. Anselm was picked to finish at the bottom of the standings and easily beat those predictions. The Hawks finished 6-5, good enough for fifth place in the NE-10.

The season started perfectly for St. Anselm. They trailed at Bowie State before scoring the final 16 points of the game to win the game 23-22. They continued their road trip to open the season with a thrilling 23-20 overtime victory over Southern Connecticut.

They beat Bentley for the first time in school history in their home opener 38-34. The Hawks trailed in the fourth quarter before rallying for the victory. They defeated Pace 52-26 in their homecoming game to start the season at 4-0 in the month of September.

They continued their winning streak with a convincing 55-24 victory at Merrimack in which Justin Bernard become the all-time Division leader in receptions. The Hawks were 5-0 for the first time in school history.

But then came back to earth as they dropped games to AIC, LIU Post, Assumption and Stonehill. It appeared that the dream season was not meant to continue for the Hawks. But they had one more trick up their sleeves.

They traveled to New Haven and pulled out an improbable 37-34 victory on the blue turf. Yianni Gavalas found Brandon Gomes from 48 yards out with no time left on the clock for the game winner. The confidence for the victory was built early as they recovered the on-sides opening kickoff.

St. Anselm fell for the second time to Stonehill during the NE-10 Championship weekend but a lot of good things happened in 2014 for the Hawks. They will hope to build off of this momentum and continue their good fortunes for the 2015 season.


Game of the Year

St. Anselm 37 New Haven 34