Bees' Kicker Matt Cotiguala Among 10 National Award Finalists


11/17/2015

Matt Cotiguala once dreamed of being a big foot on the college football kicking scene. At the end of a roundabout journey, Cotiguala discovered he could achieve that goal right here at St. Ambrose.

With a dream senior season, the lanky punter and placekicker from Orland Park, Ill., set NAIA national records for field goals per game (he had 23 in 10 games) and for field goal percentage (92 percent). His 23 field goals were the most by any college kicker at any four-year level this year and his 97 points and 100 percent PAT accuracy led all NAIA kickers.

Cotiguala also set five Fighting Bees records and earned Mid-States Football Association Midwest League Special Teams Player of the Week honors a remarkable six times.

Any wonder he is one of 10 finalists for a prestigious national award?

The Fred Mitchell Award annually recognizes the kicker at any collegiate level who best represents excellence both on the field and in the community. Cotiguala earned a place on the Mitchell Award watch list when he was one of 32 college kickers cited for excellence in the month of October. In the first week of December, he was included on a list of 10 finalists for the year-end honor.

A winner will be named on Tuesday, Dec. 17. Among the six previous yearly award winners, two have gone on to kick in the National Football League.

"The great thing about the Fred Mitchell Award is that it doesn't just recognize kickers for their on-field performance," said Cotiguala, who transferred to SAU as a junior after a paperwork error cost him his eligibility at Central Michigan, a major college program. "It also takes a look at how you have impacted the community where your school is located."

Cotiguala has contributed to St. Ambrose and the Quad Cities as a member of Ambrosians for Peace and Justice, a volunteer for the Special Olympics and a volunteer kicking coach at the high school level.

Bees head football coach Mike Magistrelli said Cotiguala's focus and dedication make him a natural leader.

"He has one of the best work ethics of any player on our team," the coach said. "He is very regimented, very meticulous and he puts a ton of time into what he does. For a lot of punters and kickers I have been around, practice means you come out, do a couple of toe touches, start kicking and see how many go through the upright. He has a whole routine, and it is pretty neat to see how that has carried over to other kickers in our program.

"He is a player-coach in terms of what he teaches. The young guys see what he does, but also the success that approach leads to and it brings a lot of credibility."

Cotiguala's success during an 8-2 Bees season was impressive. He made 23 of his 25 field goal attempts, with one of the misses hitting the crossbar and the other being partially blocked. He also was a perfect 28-for-28 on extra-point attempts and set an SAU kick-scoring record with his 97 points, including games of 15, 12 and 11 points.

His 23 field goals in a season were six more than the previous single season record and his 32 field goals over two seasons set a Bees career mark. Cotiguala averaged nearly 42 yards per punt in his career and hit three punts of better than 70 yards.

Cotiguala expects to earn his Master of Accounting degree in the spring after graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting this past May.

He would welcome an opportunity to continue kicking in some professional capacity, but understands those odds are long. An accounting job at a Davenport firm already awaits and with that might come an opportunity to continue coaching kickers, perhaps even at St. Ambrose.

"If he's available, that's a no-brainer," Magistrelli said.

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