Dean College wins NEFC title

After five winning seasons, one would think Dean College would start getting some national recognition and they have definitely started garnering that. On Saturday, the 12th-ranked Bulldogs beat Lackawanna to run the table and now they just await their bowl assignment. Read on to find out head coach Todd Vasey's thoughts on things and which players have been standouts this season...

"We've been blessed to have some really good players come through here," Vasey told JCFootball.com. "Last year we had a really good QB (Anthony Rodriguez) in here and he's now moved on so this season we have a freshman by the name of Stanley Jenkins running things for us and he's having an outstanding season.

"He's a real true dual-threat and he runs really well so teams really have to deal with his athleticism and speed."

So far this season, Jennings has posted 703 yards rushing and nine touchdowns, while also throwing for nearly 1,000 yards and 11 more scores with seven interceptions while also helping to guide the Bulldogs to a 42.3 points per game average, best in the Northeast Football Conference.

"Up front we have a couple of players who really help lead our offense and keep things calm," Vasey said. "Brett Angel and Justin Houser are both solid up there and they are being recruited by a few schools right now."

At tailback, freshman Andre Hayward has totaled 474 yards and six touchdowns to compliment Jennings' exploits.

On defense, the Bulldogs have several standouts dotting their roster, not the least of which are their outstanding linebacker corps led by Jon Ekpe and Curtis Weatherspoon, who both lead a defense that is the best in the conference as well as one of the top unit in the country.

"Jon has been outstanding for us," Vasey noted. "He's smart and he makes plays all over the place for us. He runs well and he has great instincts.

"Curtis is a playmaker at outside linebacker and he's going to be a good one as he grows and gets stronger."

Ekpe leads the Bulldogs with 53 tackles, eight tackles for loss and is second on the team with four sacks.

The leader of the front four of the Bulldogs is Nick Baker, a playmaker at defensive end who leads the team in tackles for loss with 11.5 and sacks at five. He also has totaled 32 tackles, fourth best on the team.

"Our secondary has some outstanding players in it and they are really versatile," Vasey said. "Tony Torres holds down one of our corner spots and then Lorenzo Fulmore and Sammy SiaSia is a player that really brings it all the time.

"Sammy leads out team in tackles right now and he plays with intensity. We play him at strong safety because he's such a good tackler."

On Saturday, Dean faced off against the team they needed to beat in order to win their second-straight NEFC and they did it by getting out to an early 24-0 lead behind the leadership of Jennings who threw touchdown passes of 44 and 15 yards and also had a one-yard scoring run of is own.

The Bulldogs then fended off a late Lackawanna comeback to win the game 38-28 with Jennings going 11-of-20 for 211 yards and three touchdowns.

The Bulldogs will now await their bowl assignment to find out where and when they will take to the gridiron again.