Bangor’s Clarkson is Fitzy semifinalist

Bangor’s Hampton Clarkson, Waterville’s Chad Hart, Gardiner’s Patrick Munzing and Matt York of Maine Central Institute are the Eastern Maine entries among the 13 semifinalists for the 28th James J. Fitzpatrick Trophy.

The award is presented annually to the outstanding senior football player, regardless of school classification, who excels both on and off the field.

Clarkson emerged as a serious candidate for the award early despite starting out the season with 31 yards on nine carries as a fullback in the first game. After switching to tailback the second week, Clarkson went on to rush for 1,692 total yards and 21 touchdowns. He also had 80 tackles as a linebacker.

“It’s a great thrill for everyone at Bangor High School. After the Gardiner game, we needed to make a decision we could hang our hat on and with the experience we had back, we thought he was the right guy to plug in there,” said Bangor coach Gabby Price. “We certainly hoped he’d be a semifinalist, especially after the kind of season he had.”

No Bangor player has won the award since Pat Philippon in 1979, but this is the second straight year Bangor has had a semifinalist.

Quarterback Tom Waterman was a finalist last year, but Gardiner’s Nate Sergent won the trophy.

Three finalists will selected from a secret vote of Maine coaches and members of the sports media and announced on Saturday, Dec. 19.

The award banquet will be held Sunday, Jan. 17 at the Holiday Inn By-the-Bay in Portland, where the winner will be announced.

Munzing, Sergent’s ex-teammate, started off strong and stayed pretty consistent, totalling 850 yards and 20 TDs while leading the Tigers to their second straight Eastern Maine Class A title. Munzing also made 104 tackles and three sacks at linebacker.

Hart formed half of one of the best backfield duos in the state with tailback Chris DeGuzman. Despite the presence of another standout runner, Hart managed to get 845 yards and 12 TDs. He also served as the team’s primary kicker with a Pine Tree Conference-leading 25 PAT kicks and two field goals. He was fifth in punts with a 36.7 average.

York helped his team go from 2-7 last year to 6-3 this year, barely missing the playoffs. The fullback-linebacker-placekicker-kick returner was the second-leading scorer in LTC C with 85 points.

The other semifinalists are James Pederson of Brunswick, Biddeford’s Robert Parisien, Ryan Piper of South Portland, Calvin Hunter from Edward Little of Auburn, Marshwood of Eliot’s Scott Holton, Darrell Feeney of Winthrop, Leavitt of Turner’s Jeff Dube, Sanford’s Isaac Clark, and Rudy DiPietro from Westbrook.

The enlarged field of semifinalists – 10 were picked each of the last two years – was selected by a review of the credentials of all the players nominated by their schools. A review panel of former college and high school football coaches, college and high school administrators, and media representatives pared the pool of nominees to 13.

Four of the last five and each of the last two Fitzy winners have been from Eastern Maine schools.