Home of the 2025 USAFL Division IV Premiers
On December 6th, the American Czech Education Center once again hosted the St. Louis Australian Football Club and its supporters, as they celebrated a successful 2025 season. Continuing the success of the event in 2024, the awards night saw attendance double in growth.
Stephen Zenishek and Tim Castellari served as emcees for the evening's proceedings. The evening started with the season’s superlatives, and the award winners are as follows:
Awarded to the player who had an opportunity for an easy goal but ultimately shanked. Blues captain Alex Tajkowski took home the honor.
Awarded to the player who embodied the spirit of Always Be Recruiting and brought several fresh faces to the club. Paul Xavier was honored for bringing a large number of our core new rookies.
This award goes to the player who was on the receiving end of the year's biggest hit. Bringing in his second award for the night, Paul Xavier was our pick for this award. We watched him fall like a tree in the forest in one of our early-season metros and never let him forget it.
Our annual Mad Monday Metro is a time for players to show off their creativity in a casual game of football with no rules. Rhiannon Duryea took this award home for the second year in a row, with a rendition of Old Gregg that would bring a tear to any millennial's eyes.
If the field is our second home, then our summer condo is the pub. This award goes to the player who is always ready for more and puts the team on their back at the post-game revelry. Award winner James Heuston always put in 110% at the bar, and his efforts didn’t go unnoticed.
This award goes to the supporter who showed their dedication to the club. For all of her traveling, cheering, kit cleaning, and countless behind the scenes assistance, this year’s winner was Hannah Smith. Thank you for all you do!
A repurposed award in 2025, this honor goes to the player who missed the memo, “if you’re five minutes early, you’re late,” and decided to be substantially late to any football event. Bringing in his third award of the night, Paul Xavier is presented with this honor. We’re glad he made it to the Soirée on time to receive his awards.
Some hair may be long and luscious. Some hair may be frothy and thick. This year’s award went to Carlos Nascimento and his luxurious locks.
After the superlatives, the floor was open to general comments from players and supporters, followed by a brief intermission for a refill or trip to the taco bar. Once everyone had returned to their seats, we rounded out the night with awards for on-field performances.
This year, we wanted to recognize a moment that left us stunned on the field. Initially believed to be counted as a major, this moment was initially in the running for Goal of the Year, but we thought it should be recognized nonetheless. Pat Frew brought us the Moment of the Year, breaking two tackles and taking two bounces to go from midfield to forward fifty, and kicking what was thought to be a major but was reevaluated and called back for a behind. We believed that his efforts should still be recognized.
With his 100th career goal, Stephen Zenishek was awarded Goal of the Year. The goal came from a hard-earned mark in the forward fifty against Minnesota in this year’s Regionals tournament.
Bringing home the award once again, Stephen Zenishek is your 2025 Golden Boot recipient with 39 goals on the season.
Selected by the coaching staff, Rookie of the Year is awarded to a newcomer who made the most impact in the season. This year, two rookies were awarded: Malik Mehmedspahic and Eli Benner.
Awarded to the player whom Senior Coach Rich Lozano and Assistant Coaches Josh Kandy and Jim Martin deemed most improved during the season. Another rookie was recognized as Shaun Scott brought home the honor this year.
For the player who puts the club before anything, and voted on by players, with Tim Castellari being honored with the award this year.
At the conclusion of each game, the coaching staff will collect votes from the team on the players who showed the best performance and will award votes to the season long tally. 1st (3 points), 2nd (2 points) and 3rd (1 point). These are calculated for our Best and Fairest and this year, was awarded to Joel Friesen
12/17/2025