Big News For Walter Camp Breakfast of Champions, Beef Octane, CHSCA and ECC Players of the Week, and Much More
Big News For Walter Camp Breakfast of Champions, CHSCA and ECC Players of the Week, and Much More.
It’s another Monday and the NFP team is working diligently on multiple fundraisers around Connecticut along with preparing to conduct interviews with the Walter Camp Breakfast of Champions award finalists. It’s an exciting time as we’re approaching the spring season along with great events like the Walter Camp Breakfast of Champions in New Haven, CT and the New England Nike Coach of the Year Clinic in Windsor, CT.
CHSCA Boys’ Hockey Player of the Week
Last week for the CHSCA Boys’ Hockey Player of the Week, we saw four talented puck handlers get nominated. For the SCC/SWC, Blake Baksay of Fairfield Prep netted 2 goals and tacked on 4 assists over two games. In the FCIAC, James Kohm of Farfield Warde-Ludlowe tallied 1 goal and 1 assist in a 3-1 win over New Canaan. Representing the CCC was Reid Anastacio from Simsbury who buried 2 goals and added 2 assists in a 6-1 win over East Catholic. He added 2 more assists in a 4-2 Trojans win over South Windsor. The final candidate was Maxx Corradi from Woodstock Academy. Corradi out of the Nutmeg Conference netted 8 goals in a 10-0 win vs SGWL.
The votes have been tallied and we have our winner. James Kohm of Farfield Warde-Ludlowe is this weeks winner. Congrats to James!
This week, we’ll have a new group of candidates for the CHSCA Boys’ Hockey Player of the Week. The award is sponsored by Hamden Sports Center and Cheshire Sports Center and you can vote on the winner at CHSCA.org when the finalists are announced on Twitter.
ECC Athletes of the Week
The ECC is another conference that NFP Sports works very closely with. We run their website along with all social media accounts and one thing that really gets ECC fans excited about is their Athlete of the Week Program. Last weeks winners were both from the hardwood. Julia Knowles from Waterford High School and Cedrick Similien from St. Bernard High School are the ECC Athletes of the Week.
In three games, Knowles averaged 14 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists. For Similien, he scored his 1000th career point and had 45 points, 11 board, and 4 assists over two games.
NFP Sports Proudly Offers Beef Octane!
Beef Octane was founded in 2020 after its co-founder, Joe Miller was asked to offer a line of beef jerky by the customers of their other company, Beard Octane. They launched their line of beef jerky and it quickly caught on. Sales started all online and quickly grew to retail with their products being offered at local businesses throughout Connecticut and at locations throughout the country and even overseas.
Sales grew so quickly that they added a food truck that is stationed at events throughout Connecticut. Their expansion led them to build a warehouse in Colchester to expand their distribution.
Approximately one year after launching Beef Octane, co-founder Heather Miller reached out to James Thomson to discuss the possibility of offering their line of jerky products as a fundraiser to local schools. The two knew each other from the many years Heather served as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing of the Lyons Group, who own and operate hospitality venues throughout the country, including Mohegan Sun Casino. They worked together to host coaches awards dinners for the Eastern Connecticut Conference and NFP Sports at the venues that Heather ran at Mohegan Sun.
"I knew NFP Sports was the market leader in fundraising and that James would be able to tell me if our product line was a fit for schools needing to raise funds," said Miller. James Thomson was quick to respond, "I told Heather that we had attempted to offer a line of beef jerky products previously but it never seemed to catch on. I quickly added that if anyone can figure out how to make it work, it would be her!"
After sampling the product and working out logistics, NFP Sports proudly launched Beef Octane as one of their fundraising product lines in 2021. Launching during the pandemic made things difficult but there is a reason things worked out. "Heather made it happen! Through top notch communication and an unbelievable commitment to making customers happy, we got through all the challenges." said Thomson. "We have worked through all the logistics and we now have a great product to offer our schools!"
Participating schools are able to offer the Beef Octane product line through NFP Sports in two ways: Traditional order form sales and completely online through custom online store listings. Online orders are shipped directly from Beef Octane to each customer who purchases from students. They ship anywhere in the United States and in most cases, customers receive their orders in a matter of days. We are proud to exclusively offer a high quality product through a top notch, family-owned business.
To learn more about Beef Octane, visit them at https://beefoctane.com/pages/about-beef-octane.
In order to find out more about the NFP Sports Beef Octane program, contact our office today at engagement@nfpbrands.com or (860) 920-0030.
James Edinger Takes Over As Head Football Coach At Coventry Co-op
Some news from the northern part of the state in the world of high school football is that the Coventry High Co-op team has a new head coach. Former head coach Tom Hammon stepped down and James Edinger will be taking over.
Coach Edinger played high school football at Tolland High School and then at St. Thomas More before playing college football at Springfield College. Edinger played two seasons for the Pride before moving into a student assistant role. After graduating from Springfield College, Edinger served as the assistant offensive line coach and video coordinator at Central Connecticut State. He would go onto coach the running backs at Becker College for a season. Following his stint as a college coach, Edinger landed at Windham Tech as a teacher and coach.
When we reached out to Coach Edinger about getting the job at Coventry, he said “I feel great, was an incredible experience at Ellis Tech, proud of what we started to build there, but because I’m teaching at Windham Tech I missed coaching those kids in my building this past year.” We followed up by asking what Coach Edinger expectations were this season and he stated “This years expectations are to as always give the seniors the best season possible. We have a young team this year so we want to continue to improve throughout the year one practice at a time.”
It's an exciting time for Coventry Co-op. Good luck Coach Edinger.
Walter Camp Breakfast of Champions Update
The Walter Camp Football Foundation is proud to announce that Erik Dobratz of WTNH will be back to emcee this year's Breakfast of Champions. Dobratz comes back after a few year absence from emceeing the event.
The foundation also announced that NFL Hall of Famer, Tony Boselli is confirmed as a speaker for the event. Boselli is a legendary offensive tackle that played college football at USC from 1991-1994. He was drafted second overall in 1995 by the Jacksonville Jaguars and played in Duval from 1995-2001 and then had a short stint with the Houston Texans, who selected Boselli first overall in the 2002 expansion draft.
Over his seven seasons in the NFL, Boselli started 90 of his 91 games along with making 5 Pro Bowls, 3 First Team All Pro teams, was on the PFWA 1995 Rookie Team, was named to the 1990s All Decade Team, and has had his number 71 retired by the Jaguars. Boselli was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2022.
Boselli joins a long list of gridiron greats to speak at the Breakfast, which includes John Elway, Curtis Martin, Herm Edwards, Mike Golic and Calvin Johnson to name a few.
North Haven Funeral Home recently committed as a sponsor of Class MM State Champions, North Haven High School. They join event co-title sponsor Town Fair Tire, event co-title sponsor and Lifetime Achievement Award sponsor NFP Sports and Coach of the Year sponsor, Stadium System.
State Championship sponsorship opportunities still exist for Greenwich (Class LL), New Canaan (L), Notre Dame-West Haven (Class M), Joel Barlow (Class SS) and Ansonia (Class S). Businesses from each school's local community have the opportunity to attend the event and introduce the team live. In addition, sponsorship opportunities exist for the All Connecticut Teams (1st & 2nd Team) and Player of the Year. All sponsorship inquiries can be directed to James Thomson at james@nfpsports.com or (860) 920-0030.
John Neider Commits To UConn
In back-to-back off-seasons, the UConn Huskies have secured commitments from the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year. Last years Gatorade Player of the Year Victor Rosa from Bristol Central committed to UConn and shined as a true freshman. He rushed for 636 yards and 11 touchdowns with his biggest game coming against Army when he rushed for 111 yards and 1 touchdown.
Now, UConn has landed a commitment from this years Gatorade Player of the Year John Neider of Jonathan Law High School.
Neider passed for 2,289 yards and 30 touchdowns while also rushing for 1,696 yards, 24 touchdowns, and even caught a touchdown this season. Neider has cleaned up during award season as he took home Gatorade Player of the Year, CHSCA Player of the Year, and is a finalist for Walter Camp Player of the Year.
It’s unclear what position the 6’2, 200 pound Neider will play, but he has shown his versatility. He played receiver his first few seasons with Law and moved to quarterback where he really excelled. UConn has moved prominent Connecticut high school quarterbacks to other positions. Former Southington quarterback Jay Rose was moved too tight end at UConn and in 2021, he caught 27 passes for 283 yards and 1 touchdown.
Congratulations to John Neider. It’ll be exciting to watch more local talent compete for the D1 university in Connecticut.
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If you’re interested in fundraising with NFP or looking to work with us on the sports marketing front, you can send an email to james@nfpbrands.com.