Posted: Aug 26, 2022

CCC Pre-Season Poll: Seahawks picked second in football

Jason Azzolino and the Seahawks were picked to finish second by the CCC coaches.

BIDDEFORD, Maine – Endicott football will begin the 2022 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) football season as the favorite to claim the conference championship after receiving 41 points and four first place votes in the Preseason Coaches' Poll.

The defending CCC champions earned the top spot in the poll based on votes from the league's seven head football coaches.

Salve Regina, which was barely edged out by the Gulls in this year's poll, earned 40 points in the voting, including two first place votes. Last season, the Seahawks were one of four teams vying for the CCC Football Championship heading into the final week of the season.

Seahawks head coach Kevin Gilmartin enters his 10th year at the helm of the Seahawks. He is the program's longest tenured coach and its all-time leader in wins boasting a 55-27 coaching record. He returns a deep veteran core with 43 seniors and graduate students. "It is truly a group of players who understand how to lead and the importance of team chemistry and culture," said Gilmartin. "Each one of them have displayed the positive characteristics that make the Salve Football program a true joy to be a part of."

Jason Azzolino (Saddle Brook, N.J.), Zack Catarius (Sandwich, Mass.), Jesse Lagrosa (Hillsdale, N.J.), Joey Mauriello (Colts Neck, N.J.), CJ Minchin (Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.), and Elian Telford (Phillipsburg, N.J.) will serve as captains for the 2022 season. Catarius, Mauriello, and Telford return as captains while Azzolino, Lagrosa, and Minchin each begin their first season as captains.

The Seahawks return eight all-conference players from 2021 including CCC Offensive Player of the Year and AFCA All-American running back, Mauriello who was the top rusher in the league last season and also one of the top runners in all of NCAA Division III.

Western New England, which saw its five-year streak at the top of the conference end in 2021, landed in the No. 3 spot in the poll. The Golden Bears, which missed out of their sixth-straight title by a tiebreaker, earned 37 points and the final first place vote.

Husson, the fourth team in championship contention last year, earned 35 points in the coaches' vote, good for fourth place.

The University of New England (20 points), Nichols (12), and Curry (11) rounded out the poll in that order.

The 2022 CCC football season gets underway on Friday, Sept. 2 with non-conference play. Teams will begin conference competition a month later on Saturday, Oct. 1. The team with the best conference record at the end of the regular season will be named the 2022 Football Champion and earn the league's automatic qualifier into the 2022 NCAA Division III Football Championship.