After finishing a senior football season where he was among the Atlantic Central Football Conference leaders in receptions per game, yards per game and touchdowns – and won Co-Offensive Player of the Year honors, Apprentice School football wide receiver Bryan Cain capped his career by being named the 2011 Apprentice School Athlete of the Year.

Cain, a pipefitter apprentice from Baker, La., saw his reception total increase each of his last three years and finished with the second most receptions in a single season in school history this year with 55 for 773 yards (fifth best) and eight touchdowns (tied for second best).  Those numbers put him second in the ACFC in all categories and enabled him to share the Offensive Player of the Year honors in the ACFC.  He became the second Offensive Player of the Year honoree by the ACFC for the Builders behind Travis Reid.

A speedy wide receiver, he had a career-best 13 receptions as a sophomore at NCAA Division II Lake Erie College and caught for 158 yards as a senior at Catholic University.  In the Catholic game and later as a senior at LaGrange, Cain caught a pair of touchdown passes.  He also was a standout on special teams in blocking kicks.  As a sophomore in the Oyster Bowl, he tied a school record with three blocked kicks against Southern Virginia to win Most Valuable Player honors.

Apprentice School Head Football Coach Michael Vite had nothing but strong praise for Cain in his being honored with the 2011 Apprentice School Athlete of the Year award.  "Bryan Cain was an example of a player who put the team ahead of himself and worked every day in order to become the best he could be," he said.  "He is a self-starter, a team player, and one who did all he could possibly do to help benefit the team.  I coached him for his last three years and he was nothing but a joy to be with."

 "Bryan began his apprenticeship on July 23, 2007. Since that time, he has worked on various programs that were considered milestones in the life of the shipyard," said lead instructor for piping department Vince Warren.  "In 2008, Bryan worked on the George H.W. Bush, the final Nimitz Class carrier built at Newport News Shipbuilding.  The next year, Bryan was able to work on the Gerald R. Ford, the first ship in the next generation of aircraft carrier. In addition to working on the construction of new aircraft carriers during his apprenticeship, Bryan worked on the overhaul of the carrier U.S.S. Enterprise and on Virginia Class Submarines. He is currently building piping details and assemblies for the carrier Gerald R. Ford in the Assembly Pipe Shop."

Cain is in the final months of his apprenticeship as he is slated to finish in September.  Since the season finished, he has played in two All-Star classics.  In December, Cain was in Roanoke for the D3 Senior Classic All-Star game where he caught six passes and scored a touchdown.  He followed that by participating in May at the All-American Bowl in Charleston, W.V. where he caught a pass for 45 yards and returned punts in the game that pitted NCAA Division II, III, NAIA players together.

Bryan will receive his award at the Peninsula Sports Club Headliners Night on June 13.