Football: Minisink Valley's Kai Colon earns state scholar-athlete honor
Minisink Valley quarterback Kai Colon was named the 2021 New York State Class A Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the New York State High School Football Coaches Association on Wednesday.
He is the first Minisink Valley player and only the third Section IX football player to receive the Scholar-Athlete of the Year award in the NYSHSFCA’s history. Colon is committed to Princeton University, where he will major in economics and finance and play quarterback for the Tigers.
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"I was just really happy and excited," Colon said on the award. "It’s just a great accomplishment. Coach (Kevin) Gallagher nominated me for it and it meant a lot coming from him. The New York State Coaches Association selected me, which was pretty amazing considering that the coaches in New York state thought I deserve this award out of everyone in the state in Class A, which is pretty cool. I was just really happy and my whole family is excited for me."
Coach Kevin Gallagher said it was "awesome" to have Colon on his team.
"It’s unbelievable to have a guy like that," he said. "It’s so helpful on the field and off the field. As far as on the field, when we give him options, he can look at the defense and decide which option is the best option. He can read the defense as well as anyone. He can come back to me and say, 'Hey coach, I think this will work.' If I screw up a play and send in the wrong formation, he can fix it. The rest of the team believe in him. They understand that he knows what’s going and he’s a great leader, too."
This past season, Colon led the Warriors to a Section 9 title, ending Cornwall's 10-year reign in Class A.
Colon currently holds a 98.54 GPA and has earned high honors every quarter. He is a member of the National Honor Society, along with the title of president of the Varsity Club. Colon will be receiving his award in early February at an upcoming banquet in Verona, N.Y.
Coach Gallagher added Colon is also a great person off the field.
"He’s easy to get behind because he treats everybody so well," he said. "He’s so respectful to every single person that he meets. His freshman and sophomore years I had him in my physical education class and he was already, sophomore year especially, as the starting quarterback, having a great year early in the year. The way he treated everybody in the physical education class, getting everybody involved, where sometimes that doesn’t happen. People get competitive and you just play hard. The way he treated the athletic kids and non-athletic kids, he got everybody involved. You can see he was a special kid then.”
Colon said his mindset won't change heading to college in the fall.
"It’s just keeping up the same things that I have been doing, continuing to work hard in the classroom and on the field," he said. "I think that’s just the biggest thing is that my hard work isn’t going unnoticed and just continue to keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
MKramer1@th-record.com
Twitter: @MKramerTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Section 9 football: Minisink's Kai Colon named Scholar Athlete of Year
