5 PAC players chosen for Mini Maxwell Award
Five PAC players selected as Mini Maxwell Award recipients
Maxwell Football Club President Mark Dianno announced the 2018 Mini Max High School Award winners for the state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday night.
The sixty-three players selected are from schools located in Districts 1,3,11 and 12 in the eastern half of the state. Players were nominated by their coaches throughout the 2018 season and were evaluated based on a criteria that includes football performance, academics, and community service.
Among the selections were five from the Pioneer Athletic Conference including Owen J. Roberts offensive/defensive lineman Aidan Hayward, Pottsgrove defensive end/tight end Ryan Bodolus, Perkiomen Valley cornerback/wide receiver Austin Rowley, Spring-Ford inside linebacker Nick Delromano and Upper Merion offensive/defensive lineman Mark Picariello.
Hayward finished his career as the Wildcats’ all-time leader with 25-1/2 sacks. A three-year varsity starter, Hayward posted a career-high 12 sacks during his senior season and passed 2017 grad Nick Duliakas who had previously set the mark with 21 career sacks.
Hayward was a force on defense for an OJR team that let up just 17 points per game with
two shutouts. On offense, he helped pave the way for Marcus Martin to rush for 1,049 yards (second most in the PAC) and nine touchdowns this season.
Bodolus finished his senior season with 20 sacks at the forefront of a stingy Pottsgrove defense as the Falcons picked up their first PIAA Class 6A playoff win in program history earlier this month. For the year, Pottsgrove posted four shutouts and held opposing teams to just 58.9 yards rushing prior to the second round of the state playoffs against Bethlehem Catholic.
Offensively, Bodolus finished with 13 catches for 222 yards and a pair of scores, including Pottsgrove’s lone offensive touchdown against Bethlehem Catholic last Friday night.
Rowley had a huge part in Perkiomen Valley winning its third straight PAC championship. He finished the season with six defensive interceptions — second best in the PAC — and thrived offensively as the Vikings’ No. 2 receiver. For the year, he pulled in 28 catches for 477 yards and
five touchdowns as part of Perk Valley’s pass-heavy offense.
DelRomano was one of several seniors leaders for Spring-Ford’s defense, which limiting the opposition to just over 19 points per game. The Rams’ biggest strength defensively was against the run where they limited offenses to 106.4 yards per game prior to their District 1-6A playoff matchup against Downingtown East.
After sitting out his entire junior season with a torn PCL, LCL and meniscus injury suffered prior to the regular season, Picariello made up for lost time as a senior. Picariello made the jump from running back to the offensive line and helped lead the Vikings to a 6-5 campaign this past season where they earned a spot in the District 1-5A playoffs coming off a onewin campaign in 2017.
For the year, the Vikings let up under 200 total yards per game (second best in the PAC) and held teams to just 17 points per game. On offense, Picariello helped pave the way for running back Zaire Savage to rush for 881 yards and five touchdowns while quarterback Dale Clayton threw for 1,085 yards and five touchdowns.
The Mini Max Award recipients
will be honored at a dinner to be held on Thursday January 10, 2019 at the Drexelbrook Catering Ballroom in Drexel Hill. The awards dinner is open to the public and tickets are available on the club’s website www.maxwellfootballclub.org.
The Maxwell Football Club will select one player from the group of Mini Max winners as the winner of the Pennsylvania High School Player of the Year, announced at the Jan. 10 awards dinner.
For the 7th year the Maxwell Football Club will also host a New Jersey Mini Max Awards Dinner which will be held on Sunday January 20th at the St. David the King Hall in Princeton Junction, N.J. The Maxwell Football Club will also honor players from the state of Delaware with Mini Max Awards as part of the Delaware Interscholastic Football Coaches Association dinner in late January.
The winner of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware Player of the Year awards will be the candidates for the club’s 33rd Jim Henry Award as the Outstanding Player in the region. The winner of the Jim Henry Award will be announced as part of the
Maxwell Football Club’s National Awards Gala which will be held on March 8, 2019 at the Tropicana Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. The Maxwell Football Club will also present its collegiate and professional awards at this event.
Recent winners of the Jim Henry Award include Shayne Simon (St. Peters Prep – Notre Dame), Jonathan Taylor (Salem H.S. – Wisconsin), Brandon McIlwain (Council Rock North H.S – South Carolina/Cal), Kyle Shurmur (LaSalle College H.S. – Vanderbilt), Mark Pyles (Lebanon H.S Bucknell Univ.) Fran Walsh (Archbishop Wood H.S - Villanova Univ.), Brendan Nosovitch (Allentown Central Catholic - University of South Carolina), Bill Kim (Upper Dublin H.S - Johns Hopkins), Brad Herzlich (Conestoga H.S Brown University), Daniel Persa (Bethlehem Liberty H.S - Northwestern.), Brent Caprio (Mainland Regional H.S. – William & Mary), Steven Rizzo (Audubon H.S. - Colgate), Pat Devlin (Downingtown East H.S. - Delaware), Ryan Greiser (Pennridge H.S. – Liberty Univ.), Dan Connor (Strath Haven H.S. – Penn State) and Austin Scott (Parkland H.S – Penn State).