Local football’s version of the Oscars
The Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation will hold its 64th annual Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Northampton Banquet and Event Center.
The banquet, honoring the top seniors on the field, in the classroom, and the community, is considered one of the best nongame nights of the year in local high school football. This year’s special guest speaker is Lafayette College football coach John Troxell.
Each of the area’s 34 schools has submitted a nominee, with the big winners receiving the Albert M. Beneck Memorial Lehigh Valley Scholar-Athlete Award in big-school and smallschool divisions and the Edward J. Watto Memorial Community Service Award. Another award that will be presented for the third time is the area’s outstanding lineman in memory of Mike “Guut” Gurdineer, the Northampton football coach who died in September 2021 after a battle with COVID.
This year’s nominees include: Jackson Matos-Baez, Allen; Nathan Schultz, Allentown Central Catholic; Noah Hillis, Bangor; Sammy Ayache, Bethlehem Catholic; Ian Juica, Catasauqua; Jordey Guzman, Dieruff; Eyden Perez, East Stroudsburg North; Jeremiah Derival, East Stroudsburg South; Collin Torres, Easton; Mario Landino, Emmaus; Ackylis Oyola, Executive Education; Gabriel Scotto-Dicesare, Freedom; Noah Rosahac, Jim Thorpe; Dylan Moyer, Lehighton; Silas Licsko, Liberty; Sean Kinney, Nazareth; AJ Slivka, Northampton; Chase Michael Moffitt, Northern Lehigh; Devon Hildebrand, Northwestern Lehigh; Danny Darno, Notre Dame-Green Pond; Kyle Kirsch, Palisades; Matt Machalik, Palmerton; Trey Tremba, Parkland; Kael Elias Grim, Pen Argyl; Marvelous Shabi, Phillipsburg; Aaron Rehrig, Pleasant Valley; Ethan Zheng, Pocono Mountain East; Ryder Bray, Pocono Mountain West; George Spann, Salisbury; Prince Aris, Saucon Valley; Jack Inglis, Southern Lehigh; Stoney Fuller-Bey, Stroudsburg; Trey Dogmanits, Whitehall; and Marcel Days, Wilson Area.
The local college nominees include:
Daryn Blackwell, East Stroudsburg University; Tyler Whary, Kutztown University; Justin Mitala, Lafayette; Jalen Burbage, Lehigh; Colin Conway, Moravian; and Griffin Zobel, Muhlenberg.