McKillop Wins Golden Helmet from Gridiron Club of Greater Boston

Courtesy Harvard Sports Information

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Middlebury quarterback Donald McKillop and Holy Cross quarterback Ryan Taggart received the New England Football Writers’ Gridiron Club of Greater Boston Gold Helmet Awards, announced today at the weekly luncheon. McKillop is the third NESCAC player to earn the weekly honor this season, joining Shea Dwyer from Wesleyan and Anthony Fucillo of Tufts.

The senior McKillop, from Poway, Calif., capped his record-breaking career by going 29 of 41 for 339 yards with a school-record six touchdown passes as Middlebury racked up 532 yards of total offense on its way to a 42-20 win over the Tufts Jumbos (1-7) on Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium. McKillop ends his career owning every Middlebury College passing record, nearly all New England Small College Athletic Conference records, as well as several Division III New England marks. He ends his career going 814 of 1300 for 8,748 yards with 62 touchdown passes and a completion percentage of .626. All of this taking place in 30 career games. For his efforts Saturday, McKillop was named the NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time in 2010.

Taggart, a senior from Bedford, Texas, accounted for 245 yards of total offense and four touchdowns, as the Holy Cross football team posted a 37-27 victory over Lafayette at Fisher Stadium. Taggart completed 15 of 31 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing 10 times for 41 yards and two scores. Early in the third quarter, a Taggart pass was deflected into the hands of sophomore wide receiver Gerald Mistretta, resulting in a 32-yard score to increase the Crusaders' lead to 16-7. The Leopards came back with a 52-yard touchdown pass from O'Neil to Layton, before a one-yard scoring run by Taggart put Holy Cross up 23-13 at the end of the third quarter. The Leopards scored a touchdown with 2:38 to play, making the score 30-27. But after an onside kick recovery, Taggart ran 30 yards for a touchdown with just 1:39 on the clock to conclude the scoring.

Date - Division I winner - Division II-III winner

Sept. 8 - Jordan Brown, RB/PR, Bryant - Bryant Johnson, QB, Bentley
Sept. 15 - Gunnar Jespersen, QB, CCSU - Pat Bennett, CB/KR, Coast Guard
Sept. 22 - Nick Schwieger, RB, Dartmouth - Uly Gibson, RB, Assumption
Sept. 29 - R.J. Toman, QB, New Hampshire - Michael Pierce, QB, Saint Anselm
Oct. 6 - Steve Probst, QB, Rhode Island - Shea Dwyer, RB, Wesleyan
Oct. 13 - Philippe Panico, K, Yale - Johrone Bunch, RB, Mount Ida
Oct. 20 - Matt Evans, LB, New Hampshire - Evan Berneche, WR/RB, Westfield State
Oct. 27 - Gino Gordon, RB, Harvard - Andrew Kupel, QB, Assumption
Nov. 3 - Jordan Brown, RB, Bryant - Anthony Fucillo, QB, Tufts
Nov. 10 - Tyler Holmes, LB, Massachusetts - Austin Bateman, QB, Springfield
Nov. 17 - Ryan Taggart, QB, Holy Cross - Donald McKillop, QB, Middlebury