Western New England Debuts At No. 1 in First New England Football Rankings of 2016
Golden Bears are coming off a 59-28 victory over Curry in NEFC opener on Saturday
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (September 26, 2016) – The first edition of the Grinold Chapter New England Division III Football Weekly Rankings have been released, with Western New England University claiming the top spot in the poll.
Western New England (4-0, 1-0 NEFC), which opened conference play with a 59-28 victory over Curry College on Saturday afternoon at Golden Bear Stadium, received nine of the 12 first place votes and collected 115 points. Amherst College earned the No. 2 spot with two first place tallies and 93 points after opening its eight-game NESCAC campaign with a 34-0 shutout of Hamilton on Saturday. Framingham State (3-1) garnered the final first place vote and landed at No. 3 in the poll with 89 points, while Plymouth State (4-0) and Salve Regina rounded out the top five.
Western New England completed a wire-to-wire run at the top the 2015 New England Division III Football Poll, as the Golden Bears went 10-0 during the regular season en route to their second NEFC title.
The New England Division III Football Poll is presented by the Jack Grinold Eastern Massachusetts Chapter of the National Football Foundation, which also serves as the title sponsor of the weekly Gold Helmet Awards presented by the New England Football Writers Association throughout the season.
A 12-member panel representing all four New England Division III playing conferences will serve as voters in this year's poll, and rankings will be released each Monday afternoon through November 14th. Members of this year's voting panel are E.J. Mills (Amherst), JB Wells (Bowdoin), Jay Civetti (Tufts), Tom Kelley (Framingham State), Paul Castonia (Plymouth State), Pat Haverty (Fitchburg State), Skip Bandini (Curry), Chad Martinovich (MIT), Kevin Gilmartin (Salve Regina), Gabby Price (Husson), Tony Volpone (Castleton) and Mike Landers (Mount Ida).
For more information on the Grinold Chapter of the National Football Foundation, please visit www.grinoldchapter.com.
