The Central College football team held its end-of-season banquet on Sunday afternoon, and fifth-year Dutch quarterback Blaine Hawkins was officially recognized as the winner of the Gagliardi Award as the outstanding player in Division III football in 2021.

Hawkins was supposed to receive his trophy at the banquet from a representative of the J-Club, which sponsors the award in recognition of longtime St. John’s coach John Gagliardi.  But that individual was stuck in covid quarantine with the trophy, so Stephanie Mussetter from Jostens, which co-sponsors the award, was on hand and presented Hawkins with the football that he threw to Jeff Herbers for his NCAA record 63rd touchdown pass this season.

Hawkins was also named Central’s team MVP for a third time as the Dutch presented numerous annual awards and handed out 72 varsity letters.  Central finished with a school record tying 12 victories and a trip to the NCAA quarterfinals.