What a way to finish off a football career.
Gloucester's Andrew Fulford, one of the most decorated running backs in Gloucester high school history, finished off his senior season at Norwich University by being named Division 3 All American honorable mention by d3proday.com.
Fulford is known to Gloucester high school football fans as the captain of Gloucester's 13-0 2007 Division 2A Superbowl championship team, he is also the school's all time touchdown leader with 58 and is fifth in school history with 134 points for the GHS hockey team. Just as he did at Gloucester High School, Fulford built a legacy at Norwich.
"I wasn't expecting (to be named honorable mention All American) but I think it's a testament to the team and the year we had," Fulford said. "We lost 26 seniors from last year's team and we still went out and had a great season. It was a nice way to end my college career."
During his senior season Fulford, the team's starting running back, was second on the team with 937 yards rushing to go along with a team high 10 touchdowns. He also threw two passes, both for touchdowns.
For his career Fulford was equally efficient putting up 2,730 career yards, the fourth most in Norwich history, to go along with 27 touchdowns as a three year starter. Fulford eclipsed the 100 yard mark four times this season, he had 119 yards and a touchdown against SUNY Maritime, he put up 120 yards and a pair of scores in an October 29 win over Anna Maria College. Fulford's best individual game came in an October 8 win over Castleton where he rushed for 153 yards and two scores.
Another highlight of Fulford's season came at the team's homecoming game where Gloucester native Sam Pizzimenti was on hand as he was being inducted into the school's Hall of Fame.
If the individual accolades weren't enough Fulford helped lead Norwich to one of it's most successful seasons. With a 7-4 record the Cadets won the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) and for the first time in school history qualified for the NCAA Division 3 playoffs.
Norwich qualified for the Division 3 playoffs with a win over SUNY Maritime in the ECFC championship game. In that November 5 game Fulford ran for a team high 119 yards. The game held special meaning to Fulford and the Cadets as it was SUNY Maritime that knocked off Norwich in the 2010 ECFC championship game.
"That win was really cool because they knocked us off the year before in the same game," Fulford said. "We really wanted that one, the seniors did not want to fall in the conference championship game for a second straight season."
Two weeks later, on October 19, Fulford and company traveled to Doylestown Pa. to take on Delaware Valley College, who came into the contest sporting a 10-0 record and ranked No. 8 in the nation.
The Cadets hung in there for most of the first half, but were no match for the talented and playoff tested Delaware Valley, that came away with a 62-10 win.
"They had a lot of talent on that team and they played in the NCAA tournament before," Fulford said. "But it was still a successful season for us. We don't graduate too many seniors from this year's team either so the team should be good again next year."
As it turns out Fulford's football career is not quite over as he will be traveling to Ireland with a Norwich teammate this spring to play in an All Star game.
