DANBURY, Conn. (Dec. 6, 2016) - The Eastern College Athletic Conference named its year-end award recipients for Division II football on Tuesday, and LIU Post's Jared Chester (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) and Bryan Collins were chosen as the Defensive Player and Coach of the Year, respectively.

In 13 games as the Pioneers' starting weak safety, Chester made a team-leading 78 tackles (42 solo, 36 assist) and paced the Northeast-10 Conference in interceptions (7). His 78 tackles also ranked third-most amongst the league's defensive backs.

From the sidelines, Collins guided the green and gold to an NE-10 Championship and their first 12-win season in program history. Over his 19 years at the helm, Collins has posted a career 142-69 mark, translating to a staggering .672 winning percentage.

Red-shirt senior defensive lineman Kenny Scotland (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) and red-shirt junior defensive lineman Anthony DeNunzio (Seaford, N.Y.) joined Chester on the ECAC All-Star first-team defensive roster.

Scotland had 31 tackles (19 solo, 12 assist) in 2016, including the second-most tackles for a loss (11.0) on the team. Meanwhile, DeNunzio totaled 72 tackles (36 solo, 36 assist) on the year, and led the Pioneers in sacks (8.0), tackles for loss (12.5) and forced fumbles (3).

On offense, senior running back David White (Bronx, N.Y.), red-shirt senior wideout Shane Hubbard (St. Albans, N.Y.), junior offensive lineman Joseph Lacey (Medford, N.Y.) and red-shirt sophomore offensive lineman James Louison (Hauppauge, N.Y.) were all selected to the ECAC All-Star First Team.

White led the Pioneers out of the backfield, and finished as the team's first 1,000-yard rusher since Thomas Beverly in 2009. He ran for 1,054 yards and 13 touchdowns, eclipsing the 100-yard single-game mark on four separate occasions.

Hubbard had a prolific senior season, as he broke the program's all-time records for receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Additionally, he repeated on the ECAC All-Star First Team, after a year in which he caught 92 passes for 1,048 yards and nine touchdowns. It was the second time in Hubbard's four-year career that he eclipsed the 1,000-yard plateau.

Lacey and Louison both fought in the trenches to help pave the way for an offense that led the NE-10 in rushing yards (2,512), rushing touchdowns (30), passing yards (3,111), passing touchdowns (30) and third-down conversion percentage (.492).

Senior quarterback Jeff Kidd (Salem, Ore.) and junior defensive lineman Kevin Petit-Frere (Amityville, N.Y.) earned spots on the ECAC All-Star Honorable Mention Team.

Kidd, who was named the NE-10 Most Valuable Player, led the league in 2016 in completions (248), passing yards (2,825), passing yards per game (256.8) and passing touchdowns (28). He threw for 300 or more yards in four different games and completed at least 50.0 percent of his passes in 10 of the 11 contests he started.

Petit-Frere started every game up front for the Pioneers, and assisted in spearheading a defense that yielded the third-fewest points per game (20.9) of any team in the conference. He also amassed 39 tackles (22 solo, 17 assist) and 2.5 sacks, to go along with eight pass break-ups and a blocked kick.

For a complete release on the 2016 ECAC Division II All-Star Football Team, please click here.