Lou Groza Award Stars of the Week 9/18/06

This week’s Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Stars of the Week are Chris Manfredini of TCU, Garrett Hartley of Oklahoma, and Paul Martinez of Oregon. All three kickers had impressive games to earn the spot as a Star of the Week.

Chris Manfredini went a perfect 4 for 4 this week against Texas Tech. Manfredini scored all of TCU’s points as he connected on field goals from 23, 30, 33, and 34 yards in their 12-3 victory. In addition to being a Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Star of the Week Manfredini was named the Mountain West Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.

Garrett Hartley, who leads the nation in field goals made, connected on 4 field goals against Oregon this week. He made field goals from 20, 22, 26, and 41 yards. This is Hartley’s second week in a row as a Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Star of the Week.

Paul Martinez made a clutch extra point with 46 seconds left in the game to cap off Oregon’s impressive come from behind victory against visiting Oklahoma. Martinez also added field goals from 22 and 48 yards in the 34-33 win.

For more information on the Top Three Stars of the Week, including photos and bios, please visit http://www.lougrozaaward.com/Candidates/index.htm.

The 2006 winner of the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award is presented by the FedEx Orange Bowl and is announced on Thursday, December 7, 2006 during the ESPN Home Depot College Football Award Show in Orlando, Florida. The top three finalists for the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award are honored during the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Banquet and Silent Auction on Tuesday, December 5, 2006, at the Palm Beach Gardens Marriott. This is an event of the Palm Beach County Sports Institute.

All Division I-A kickers are eligible for the Award named for NFL Hall-of-Fame Kicker Lou "The Toe" Groza. Voters for the award include Division I-A head coaches, sports writers and sportscasters, conference representatives, professional kickers, and previous Groza Award finalists.

The Lou Groza Award is also sponsored by The Breakers, Continental Airlines, Enterprise rent-a-car, ESPN Radio 760, ESPN Regional Television, FedEx Orange Bowl Florida Atlantic University Athletics, Florida Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Hartless Foundation, JBS Destination Solutions, John F. Romano, P.A., Palm Beach Gardens Marriott, Palm Beach Kennel Club, The Palm Beach Post, Parallax Productions, PGA National Golf Club, Rooney’s Public House, Team A-fin-ity Sportfishing, The TuxShop and WPEC News-12.

For more information regarding the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award, please contact Dusty Ann Williams at the Palm Beach County Sports Institute at (561) 233-3122 or dwilliams@palmbeachsports.com.