WALTHAM, Mass.  – Bentley University sophomore linebacker Bryan Hardy (Barnstable/ Barnstable HS) has been named the Defensive Player of the Week in the Northeast-10 Conference following his outstanding performance in Saturday's season-ending win at Merrimack College.

Also recognized for his efforts against the Warriors, as the NE-10 Rookie of the Week, was sophomore defensive back Junior Chery (Waltham/Waltham HS).

In a 30-7 win that saw Merrimack held to its lowest point total in 70 games, Hardy was in on 19 tackles, the most by a Bentley player in at least two decades and matching the most by an NE-10 player this season. Twelve of his tackles were solo stops and he also had 3 tackles for losses, a forced fumble and a pass break-up.

Hardy finished his first season as a full-time starter with 103 tackles, the most by a Bentley player since Matt Zohoruiko was in on 123 during the 2009 campaign. He ranked fourth in the Northeast-10 with a 9.4 per game average, and was second on the team with 12 tackles for losses. His season also included an interception, a fumble recovery, a forced fumble and 1.5 sacks.

Chery, in his first career start, gave the Falcons a career-best 12 tackles while forcing and recovering a fumble on a kickoff return. Prior to Saturday, he had made nine stops in ten contests.

Three other Falcons earned a spot on the NE-10 Weekly Honor Roll: grad student and QB Danny Guadagnoli (Framingham/Framingham HS), senior wide receiver Jeff Hill (Mansfield/Mansfield HS) and junior defensive end Paul Norris (North Attleboro/North Attleboro HS).

Guadagnoli closed out his career by throwing for 299 yards and four touchdowns, including a 54-yarder on the game's first play from scrimmage. He completed 20 of 36 passes with the other scoring strikes covering 23, 62 and 25 yards, broke his own single season school record for passing yards, and surpassed 9,000 yards for his career. Guadagnoli also ran for 33 yards (and three first downs) for 332 in total offense.

Hill, in his final game, caught six passes for a season-high 163, including TDs of 54 and 62 yards. He surpassed 1,000 receiving yards for the second straight season, moved into fourth on Bentley's all-time scoring list and reached 200 in career receptions.

Norris had ten tackles, including four for losses, a sack and a QB hurry, as the Falcons held Merrimack to 19 points below its season norm.

Bentley, which won four of its final five games to finish at 5-6, ranked third in the NE-10 in both scoring defense and yards allowed, and was tied for fourth in takeaways (24).