BLOOMINGTON, MN - Junior kicker Maki Medici (Watervliet, NY/Shaker) of the Utica College football team has earned his most prestigious award to date after a phenomenal third campaign with the Pioneers. D3Football.com announced today that Medici has been named to the national website's All-East Region first team. The award was announced on Tuesday.

The award is among the most prestigious in all of Division III football, and puts Medici in position to potentially have his name called as an All-American when those picks are announced by D3Football.com prior to the national championship game. Over 1,000 players were nominated nationally, and over 300 of those nominations for the exclusive All-Region awards came from the East region. Medici is the second Utica kicker to be named All-Region, as Thomas Woodburn was selected back in 2015 and later went on to be an All-American. The Pioneers also record All-Region selections in consecutive seasons as Keanu Heedram (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) was picked as a defensive lineman last season. 

Medici gets the nod following his most successful season yet. That season saw Medici land on D3Football's radar as a national Team of the Week selection following the win over Alfred, and his reputation for reliability only grew larger from there. He went on to be named a double first team All-Conference selection as a kicker and punter, and is the 2019 Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Year.

As a kicker, he was 15-of-19 on field goal attempts this season, and was 13-of-14 on attempts inside 40 yards. He did not miss inside of 40 yards in the first nine games of the season. His season included an incredible four field goal performance in the win over Alfred, along with a career-long 48 yard field goal in the same game. The 48 yard field goal is the second longest in school history, and was the longest in the E8 this year.

He had the fourth-best field goal percentage for a single season in program history, and the second best among kickers with more than 10 attempts. He led the conference in field goals made, field goals attempted, and field goal percentage. He was also fifteenth nationally in field goal percentage.

Medici was also an accomplished punter who helped Utica lead the nation this regular season in punt return defense, while ranking second among conference punters in punting average.

The Pioneers finished the season against a challenging schedule at 5-5, and wrapped up the campaign with a 58-14 win over Hartwick. Nine players were selected to All-Conference teams, and Medici's honor is just the latest major award honor for the team in 2019. Ryan Oliver (Vernon Center, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) was selected as a member of the 2019 Allstate Good Works team and will be in attendance at the 2020 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans as the Baylor Bears battle the Georgia Bulldogs. More recently, Markel Griggs (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) was a nominee for the Piesman trophy. Griggs went on to place in the top five in the fan voting after getting on the ballot for his role in a fumble return touchdown against Hartwick.