Cuipa, Luks among finalists for Mr. Football award

Steve Cuipa of Bishop Guertin High School and Mike Luks from Souhegan High School are both among the five finalists for the WGAM Friday Night Lights Mr. Football award, which recognizes the top football player from New Hampshire.

Other finalists include Winnacunnet's Steve Cronan, Salem's Max Jacques and Lebanon's Cody Patch. The winner will be announced on Dec. 15 at an award ceremony at the Hilton Garden Inn in Manchester. The Home Team, WGAM's afternoon talk show, will be interviewing all of the finalists on air from 5 to 6 p.m., before the winner is announced.

Luks will be looking to become the third player from Souhegan to win the award, following Jeff Farrington in 2002 and Steven Jellison in 2009. Cuipa would be the second Bishop Guertin player to receive the award; Mark Spinney won in 2006.

Other Mr. Football award winners include Mike Boyle of Plymouth in 2003, Dave Philistin of Manchester Central in 2004, John Sughrue of Pinkerton Academy in 2005, Alex Theodhosi of Londonderry in 2007 and David Zocco of Nashua South in 2008.

Jacques was a finalist for the award in 2009 and has already been named the Gatorade Player of the Year in New Hampshire for the second year in a row. The senior helped lead Salem to the Division I semifinals, where the Blue Devils lost to Pinkerton.

Cuipa, Luks and Patch all led their respective teams to championships this season. Cuipa helped Bishop Guertin hold off Cronan's Warriors in the Division II championship game, while Luks scored the winning touchdown in Souhegan's Division III championship win over Portsmouth and Patch helped Lebanon to the Division IV title.