51�Թ�

Record-setting 51�Թ� running back and Second Team All-American is being considered for NCAA Division III football’s top prize.

Bantolina is one of 18 players, and the only player from the Northwest Conference, under consideration for the . Nicknamed the “Heisman Trophy of Division III,” the award is presented by the Saint John’s University J-Club and Stearns Bank and honors the Division III player of the year. Bantolina is the first Pacific player to be named a semifinalist for the award.

A to help select the finalists runs through Friday, Dec. 13. The fan ballot will be considered among the 40 ballots cast by Gagliardi Trophy selection committee members. The finalists will be announced via live stream on on Thursday, Dec. 19, at 1 p.m. (Pacific).

Bantolina put together arguably the best season ever for a Pacific running back. He leads Division III with 2,198 all-purpose yards (as of Dec. 6) and ranks second with 1,533 rushing yards and 153.3 rushing yards per game. He smashed the previous Pacific single-season record of 1,240 rushing yards set by Joshua Harris ’24 in 2019 and tied Harris’ single-season record with 15 rushing touchdowns.

In a 34-24 victory over Lewis & Clark on Sept. 14, Bantolina rushed for a school-record 256 yards, bettering the previous mark of 234 yards set by Frank Buckiewicz, Sr. ’53 in 1952 and equaled by Al Navarro ’91 in 1989. In the same game, Bantolina’s 99-yard run for a touchdown broke the school record for longest rushing play, surpassing the 87-yard run by Ralph Nickerson ’74 in 1975.

Following the season, Bantolina was voted at running back and was named by the American Football Coaches Association as an all-purpose player. The Boxers’ primary kickoff return specialist, Bantolina averaged 22.6 yards per return on 25 attempts.

A native of Ewa Beach, �Ჹ�ɲ���‘i, and a graduate of the Iolani School, Bantolina owns a 3.76 GPA as an accounting major. He is also an active member of Pacific’s �Ჹ�ɲ���‘i club, Nā Haumāna O Hawaiʻi.

Bantolina is the Northwest Conference’s first Gagliardi Trophy semifinalist since Linfield’s Wyatt Smith made the list in 2021. The trophy has been won by NWC players twice: Pacific Lutheran quarterback Chad Johnson in 2000 and Linfield quarterback Brett Elliott in 2004.

First presented in 1993, the Gagliardi Trophy is named for late Saint John’s University head coach John Gagliardi, who won a college football record 489 wins between 1949 and 2012. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009.