Photos by Sam Thiel Left: Marshall’s Konnor Aufenthie poses for a photo with his family after signing his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday to play football at the University of Wisconsin River Falls. Right: Marshall’s Hugo Cifuentes poses for a photo with his family after signing his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday to play football at Bethel University.

MARSHALL — After a quarterback helps his team score a touchdown, the kicker usually comes in to add the extra point and complete the play. When it came to announcing their colleges, Konnor Aufenthie and Hugo Cifuentes had a similar thought process.

The two Marshall seniors signed their National Letters of Intent on Wednesday, with the quarterback Aufenthie starting things off by going to the University of Wisconsin River Falls and the kicker Cifuentes completing the morning by going to Bethel University.

Aufenthie said he’s relieved to have this day come and be officially committed.

“It’s nice to get it over with,” Aufenthie said. “It’s kind of a long process to get through everything and meet all of the coaches and players and create a good bond with them, but it just feels good.”

His Marshall teammate expressed a similar feeling.

“It feels pretty good,” Cifuentes said. “It brings a lot of calmness to you because you don’t know where you’re going to go and you’ve picked a bunch of different schools, so it’s just nice to be calm and know where you’re going next year.”

‘It was something larger than football’

During his recruitment process, Cifuentes said he wanted to feel at home with his college and added Bethel did just that, both on and off the field.

“I wanted somewhere where I felt at home and whenever I would go to Bethel, I just felt like it was the right place,” Cifuentes said. “Beyond football, it was just a great school and it had a great atmosphere.”

Cifuentes said that his coaches and teammates have had a huge impact on him and that their bond extends beyond the gridiron.

“It’s been a huge impact on me,” Cifuentes said. “You think about just the kicker being there every now and then, but they made it something larger than that and it was nice to know people were there supporting me. It was more than just being a kicker, so it was nice to have that.”

He added that his teammates did the same.

“It was like a brotherhood, they just brought me in and took care of me and whenever I got hit on the field, they were pushing all of the other guys and saying they couldn’t do that,” Cifuentes said. “Just knowing I had that bond with them, it was something larger than football.”

Cifuentes said him and Aufenthie have created a huge bond with each other since entering high school and was happy to sign to play college football on the same day as one of his best friends.

“Konnor and I didn’t go to middle school together, but once we got to high school and got to know each other it was pretty good,” Cifuentes said. “Through football, we’ve built a huge bond and I knew it was always really special to be able to sign with someone like Konnor because he’s one of my best friends.”

Cifuentes said he plans to major in human anatomy and biology with a focus in chiropractics.

‘A good

brotherhood’

For his recruitment, Aufenthie said after one of their coaches contacted him, he went for a visit to Wisconsin River Falls and loved the camaraderie of the program.

“One of the coaches came to our school and he talked to me, so I went up there for a visit with the coaches and players and spent an overnight there,” he said. “All of the players were friendly and they made a good bond with me and it was all good.”

Aufenthie said his coaches have done a lot to help him become who he is today and is grateful for the impact they’ve had on him.

“Coaches are a big part of what I am today,” Aufenthie said. “They taught me everything I know, they’re there every day to help and give you all of the knowledge that they can to be a better player. They had such a great impact and I want to thank them for that.”

He added that he and his teammates have created an extremely tight bond.

“I’m friends with all of them, we all have a good brotherhood with each other and we’re always supporting each other whenever they fall down, we pick them right back up and I’m very thankful for them,” he said.

Aufenthie said it was an awesome experience to sign alongside Cifuentes.

“It was awesome,” Aufenthie said. “Hugo’s one of my best friends, ever since high school started we’ve talked every day since and we’re best friends.”

Aufenthie said he plans to be a biomedical major and work towards chiropractor school as well.