Maiuolo, Cheadle Win SCIAC Player of the Week Honors for CMS Football

Maiuolo, Cheadle Win SCIAC Player of the Week Honors for CMS Football

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Freshman kicker Alessandro Maiuolo was named the SCIAC Football Specialist of the Week, and junior running back Garrett Cheadle repeated as the Offensive Player of the Week, it was announced today by the conference office.

The Stag duo earned their honors after helping CMS to a 16-9 win over Chapman on Saturday, which clinched at least a share of the SCIAC title, as well as the program's first-ever bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. CMS is 6-0 in the SCIAC with one game left (at Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday) and can finish no worse than in a first-place tie with Redlands, which it defeated head-to-head earlier this season. 

Maiuolo came up big for the Stags to earn his first career SCIAC honor. He was 3-for-3 on field goals and converted his only extra point attempt, accounting for 10 points on a day when points were hard to come by. He made his two longest field goals of the season in the first quarter to stake CMS to a 6-0 lead it would not relinquish, connecting from 42 yards on the first Stag possession and then adding a 35-yarder. In the third quarter, he tacked on a 24-yarder to extend the lead to a two-touchdown margin at 16-2. 

Cheadle was a workhorse for a CMS offense that maintained possession of the ball for over 43 minutes. He carried the ball a career-high 41 times for 173 yards and a touchdown, a 29-yard scamper in the second quarter to put the Stags ahead 13-2. Cheadle earned the SCIAC Offensive Player of the Week Award last week after setting a single-game school record with 274 yards in a 34-21 win over Whittier, passing the old record of 261 set by Chris Dabrow in 1987, and he improved his total to 1,275 for the season, giving him a chance to threaten for the single-season record of 1,489 yards, set by Dabrow in that same 1987 campaign.

The 1987 season also marked the last time that the Stags had won a SCIAC championship, prior to picking up the win over Chapman on Saturday. CMS will try to finish the conference season undefeated on Saturday, when they head across Sixth Street for a 1 p.m. contest, and will then find out where its NCAA Tournament destination is when the NCAA has its selection show on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.