Easton and Kenney honored with NEC weekly honors; Easton garners national honors

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Bryant University football seniors Dalton Easton (Miami, Fla.) and Patrick Kenney (Camarillo, Calif.) have been named the Northeast Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, the league announced on Monday afternoon.

Playing in the final game of their careers, Easton and Kenney led the Bulldogs to a 42-34 victory over rival Sacred Heart on Saturday afternoon. Easton earns the third weekly honor of his career, while Kenney picks up his first. In addition, Easton was named an Honorable Mention STATS FCS National Offensive Player of the Week.

Easton put the finishing touches on a stellar career by completing 22-of-36 passes for a school-record 391 yards and four touchdowns. It marked the fourth time this season and the seventh time in his career that he has accumulated 4+ touchdown passes in a game. Easton's 391 yards broke his own record that he set earlier this year at Montana State (368). With his four touchdown passes, Easton set a new NEC record with 28 this season. He got Bryant on the board with a 21-yard TD pass to classmate Taylor Barthelette (East Longmeadow, Mass.) before throwing a pair of scoring passes to junior Matt Sewall (Portsmouth, R.I.) just 2:05 apart late in the first half. Easton's final touchdown pass was a 67-yard strike to junior Aaron Aryee (Hartford, Conn.).

Kenney saved his best game for last as he posted a career-high 14 tackles to lead the Bryant defense. He made eight solo stops, 1.5 tackles for a loss and also caused a key turnover. Twelve of his 14 tackles stopped the Pioneers short of the first-down marker. Kenney then made a big defensive play with his team trailing 14-7. Sacred Heart converted a third-down pass but Kenney ripped the ball out of the hands of the receiver and returned it to the SHU 26. Bryant would score moments later to tie the game. The 14 tackles also gave him 251 for his career, the second-most in a career in program history.