CMC75 Moments: 2018 Football Clinches First NCAA Bid
As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moment, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
2018 Football: Stags 16, Chapman 9
CMS has always had an uphill battle in the SCIAC, competing with teams that often have twice the roster size, and the addition of Chapman to the league in 2012 made the task even tougher. The Stags came in second place in 2015, though, with only a tight loss to La Verne preventing them from their first NCAA bid, and made a league championship a reasonable carrot to reach. In 2018, CMS put that carrot just one win away with two weeks left, using a dominating ground game and stingy defense to dominate time of possession and knock off Cal Lutheran (17-10) and Redlands (20-10) to get on top of the standings. In their home finale on Senior Day, the Stags had a chance to clinch at least a share of the SCIAC title and guarantee an NCAA bid, which would be a first in program history.
Chapman came in with the highest-scoring team in the league, but the Stags did what they do best, chewing up clock behind running back Garrett Cheadle and keeping the ball out of Chapman's hands. Two Alessandro Maiuolo field goals in the first quarter staked CMS to a 6-0 lead, and Cheadle broke a 35-yard run in the second quarter to make it 13-0. A third Maiuolo field goal after a Chapman safety pushed the lead to 16-2 in the third, before the Panthers finally broke the ice on the CMS defense in the fourth to close within 16-9 with 12 minutes left. The Stag D came up with two big stops, though, and a pair of Cheadle runs for a final first down enabled CMS to run out the clock, win its first SCIAC title since 1987, and earn its first-ever trip to the NCAAs.
Cheadle was named the SCIAC Offensive Player of the Year, Mitchell Allan was named the Defensive Player of the Year, and offensive lineman Brian Wahl earned second-team All-America honors from the American Football Coaches Association. Cheadle, Wahl, Allan, Jett Zeimantz and Cade Moffatt were first-team All-SCIAC selections, while Zach Heffernan, Mason Hernandez, Luke Livingston and Benjamin Cooney were on the second team.
Mackenzie Cooney:
My favorite memory from the championship season was beating Chapman to clinch the SCIAC championship on Senior Day. My entire family was at the game and it was the last home game I was able to play with my brother on the field. Being able to share that moment and celebrate with the seniors who I had fought with for four years, will always remain as one of my favorite memories.
I am very proud of what our team was able to accomplish. We made a huge culture shift from when I first got on campus and made it our mindset that we expect to compete for a SCIAC championship every year. During that championship year I felt an energy and determination that did not exist my first three years. Especially being a senior and it being my second term as a captain, I felt I owed it to everyone on the team to make sure we gave it everything we had. The team we had was prepared to do uncomfortable and inconvenient tasks to win games, to challenge ideas and philosophies for the better, and created relationships that will last a lifetime.
Winning SCIAC was the number one goal our team had since my freshman year and to be able to finally accomplish it after coming so close two years meant everything.
Jacob Lyle:
By that point in the year, we had really embraced our identity as an offense and it was so much fun. We knew we were going to run the ball, the other team knew we were going to run the ball, everyone watching the game knew we were going to run the ball, but it didn't matter. It was like, 'Alright, you know we're going to run the ball, now try to stop us.' There isn't a better feeling in the world than imposing your will on a defense in key situations. We were so confident in our ability to convert in those situations; it was a really special thing to be a part of.
It felt great to be a part of program history. Later that night, I thought back to the last CMS SCIAC championship team and that put it all into perspective. We had succeeded in doing something that the program hadn't done for three decades. To be the first NCAA playoff bid for CMS made that realization even sweeter.
The hands-down best moment of the year was our final offensive drive at Redlands. We got the ball at the beginning of the fourth quarter up 12-3, and I remember Coach Sweeney saying 'Let's run it until they stop us.' I respect the physicality of that Redlands defense, but we simply lined up, played 11-on-11 football, and we just dominated them physically. No tricks, we didn't out scheme them; we were just the bigger, stronger, tougher football team that day. It felt great to beat up on a team that was nationally known for their toughness and physicality.
Nick Parise:
My favorite memory from that season was after we beat Chapman. We were so focused on beating our next opponent I didn't even realize what a win against Chapman meant until after the game. To win SCIAC and know we were going to the playoffs meant a lot to the team, it justified all our hard work and proved how good we were. We were so focused on beating Chapman and getting a little revenge from the year before (a 48-38 defeat) that it wasn't until the game ended that everyone breathed a sigh of relief and celebrated. That whole season our ability to stay focused on our opponent that week and not look too far ahead made us successful.
Time of possession had been our trademark the past couple years. During long drives we would get in a rhythm, and it felt like nothing was going to stop us, especially late in games. It's a great feeling to get on a roll where there was no doubt in our mind that the next play was going to work. Late in the game, you start to see some exasperation on the faces of our opponent as they lined up, especially when they know what's going to happen and they still can't stop it. There's no better feeling.
We were all incredibly proud to be the first team in 30 years to win the SCIAC and first to get a playoff bid in program history. It was something we had talked about in the offseason and it helped us set our goal of winning SCIAC. That group put a lot of hard work in the offseason and to see it pay off was incredibly satisfying.
2018 Football Roster
Head Coach: Kyle Sweeney
Assistant Coaches: Mark Odin, David Battle, Eric Johnson, Chris Vicory, Wayne Moses, Luke Blochowski
Mitchell Allan (Sr., LB, CMC)
Grant Braught (Fr., P, CMC)
Brenden Brown (Sr., QB, HMC)
Jonah Cartwright (Jr., RB, HMC)
Dylan Byrd (Jr., QB, CMC)
Jack Cavellier (So., DL, CMC)
Theo Chamberlain (So., TE, CMC)
Garrett Cheadle (Jr., RB, HMC)
David Chen (So., DL, CMC)
Benjamin Cooney (Fr., DB, CMC)
Mackenzie Cooney (Sr., DB, CMC)
Christian Curcio (Jr., RB, CMC)
Sevion DaCosta (So., LB, CMC)
Camrion Davis (So., LB, CMC)
Torben Deese (Fr., DL, CMC)
Zach Fogel (Fr., QB, CMC)
Eamon Gallagher (Sr., DB, CMC)
Samuel Goldberg (Fr., DL, CMC)
Jack Grasberger (Fr., WR, CMC)
Zach Heffernan (So., TE, CMC)
Carter Henderson (So., WR, CMC)
Mason Hernandez (Fr., DL, CMC)
Andrew Hosmar (So., K/P, CMC)
Elijah Jackson (Sr., DL, CMC)
Declan Judge (So., QB, CMC)
James Keneally (Sr., OL, CMC)
Dallin Kemp (Fr., OL, CMC)
Jae Kinney (So., DL, CMC)
Maurice Landers III (So., WR, CMC)
Connor Lehner (Jr., LB, CMC)
Jordan Leonard (So., RB, CMC)
Trent Lindsey (Fr., DL, CMC)
Luke Livingston (Jr., DL, CMC)
Brian Loudermilk (Fr., WR, CMC)
Jacob Lyle (So., OL, CMC)
Alessandro Maiuolo (Fr., K, HMC)
Andrew Maltz (So., OL, CMC)
Matthew May (Jr., OL, CMC)
Satya Mindich (So., DB, CMC)
Cade Moffatt (So., DB, CMC)
Matthew Niemann (Fr., LB, CMC)
Jacob Norville (So., QB, CMC)
Nick Parise (So., TE, CMC)
Dylan Porter (Fr., LB, CMC)
Alex Plunk (Jr., DB, CMC)
William Porter (So., DB, CMC)
Cooper Pryde (So., DL, CMC)
Zachary Ralston (Jr., OL, CMC)
Stiles Satterlee (Fr., DB, CMC)
Chance Sears (So., OL, CMC)
Spencer Sheff (Jr., RB, CMC)
Matthew Sill (So., WR, CMC)
Connor Sinclair (Jr., DL, CMC)
William Smith (Fr., TE, CMC)
Malcolm Stolarski (Sr., OL, CMC)
Michael Streinz (Jr., OL, HMC)
Matthew Stuppiello III (So., DB, CMC)
Lukas Svitek (Jr., DL, CMC)
Ethan Takeyama (So., WR, CMC)
Jackson Tate (Sr., OL, CMC)
Jack Viani (So., WR, CMC)
Brian Wahl (Sr., OL, CMC)
Garrett White (Fr., DB, CMC)
Jett Zeimantz (Jr., OL, CMC)
Jackson Zeledon (Sr., WR, CMC)