Local helping Gulls soar.

• Position: Sports

Andrew Holfinger and Endicott's defense kept the pressure on Curry and its freshman quarterback last week and the result was a 28-6 win for the defending New England Football Conference champions, their second straight victory after beginning the year with back-to-back losses.

"We're starting to turn the corner,'' said fifth-year linebacker Holfinger, a Sterling resident who starred for coach Paul Constantino at Clinton High.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Holfinger is leading the Gulls' pass rush. He had two sacks in the Curry game to bring his NEFC-best total to a career-high five. He ranks second on the team with 24 tackles and has broken up four passes.

Among his nine tackles against Curry, Holfinger assisted on an additional tackle-for-loss. He had two quarterback hurries and blocked an extra point.

"We kind of stuck it to them,'' said Holfinger, who was named NEFC Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts.

Holfinger transferred to Endicott after a semester at Central Florida. He split time his first two seasons with the Gulls and established himself in the starting lineup last season. He finished the year with 58 tackles, 3 sacks and 3 pass breakups and collected All-NEFC honors while leading Endicott to the NCAA playoffs.

Holfinger earned his bachelor's degree in sport management last spring and is pursuing his MBA while finishing his final year of eligibility.

Since classes started last month, Holfinger said he keeps hearing the same question: "What do you want to do?''

He's not sure, but perhaps something sports related. He enjoyed his internship with the Worcester Sharks two years ago.

Holfinger was a T&G Super Team selection his senior year at Clinton. He also ran track for the Gaels and qualified for the Division 2 state wrestling tournament. Over the last three summers, he has added more strength to go with his pretty good speed by working with Jeremy Frisch, a former Worcester State player, at Achieve Performance Training in Clinton.

Holfinger has at least one sack in all four of the Gulls' games.

Holfinger's high school career started out pretty rough. The Gaels were 0-11 his sophomore season and 3-8 his junior year. In 2009, bolstered by Holfinger, who was the Division 3A Defensive MVP, Clinton went 12-1 and won the Division 3 Super Bowl.

"It was a rags-to-riches type story,'' Holfinger said.

Holfinger has just kept on winning. In his collegiate career, Endicott is 29-8. The Gulls were NEFC runners-up in 2011 and 2012 and won...