Franklin, MA -- November 17, 2009 -- The Dean College football team, currently ranked 12^th in the latest NJCAA poll, recently completed a three-peat, winning its third consecutive Northeast Football conference championship. Dean’s overall record in this span is an astounding 28-3. The conference, comprised of teams from Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, has never had a college win three straight titles in its thirteen-year history.

 

The Bulldogs, with a record of 9-1, have accepted a bowl bid to the Valley of the Sun Bowl, to be played on December 5^th in Phoenix, Arizona. Their opponent is Glendale Community College, the winner of the Western States Football League, which traditionally hosts this junior college bowl game, the oldest continuous bowl game in the National Junior College Athletic Association. A total of twenty teams have participated in the Valley of the Sun Bowl, with Glendale having the most wins with ten. The Gauchos have earned three national championships by virtue of Valley of the Sun Bowl game victories.

 

Dean has shown tremendous balance in their effort this year, They are 9^th in the country in pass defense, 13^th in rushing offense, 9^th in rushing defense and 7^th in total defense.   Individually, the Bulldogs are led by their quarterback Anthony Baskerville (Newark, NJ). Anthony is 13^th in the NJCAA in overall total offense, rushing for 720 yards while passing for 1155. He leads the league in this category by over an average of fifty yards per game. Andre Hayward is the leading ball-carrier with 785 yards with five touchdowns. On defense, linebacker Curtis Weatherspoon leads the team in average tackles per game with 8.2, while recording a league-high nine sacks. Fellow linebacker Asim Hicks joins Curtis as the number one and two tacklers in the league with a 7.4 average.

 

This the second straight year Dean has reached a bowl game, and their third overall. Last year they traveled to Iowa where they lost 20-10, to Iowa Central.   They hope the warm climate in Arizona will bring a better result this year.

 

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