Edwards Named SCIAC Newcomer of the Year; 12 Stags Earn All-SCIAC Honors

CLAREMONT, Calif. - First-year running back Justin Edwards was named the SCIAC Football Newcomer of the Year, and was joined on the All-SCIAC teams by 11 of his Claremont-Mudd-Scripps teammates in a vote of the league's coaches, the conference office announced this morning.

Edwards was one of six Stags to earn first-team All-SCIAC honors, along with three of the people up front who did much of the blocking for him this season, left tackle Jacob Lyle, left guard Kamarion Porter, and tight end Will Smith. CMS also had two of its defensive players earn first-team All-SCIAC distinction in linebackers Dylan Porter and Stiles Satterlee. 

Right guard William Zhang was chosen to the All-SCIAC second team to give CMS another member of its offensive line on the all-league teams, while four defensive players were second-team selections, including linemen Mason Hernandez and Tyson-Jay Saena, and defensive backs Ben Cooney and Michael Colangelo. Kicker Alessandro Maiuolo also took second-team honors for the Stags, giving them 12 selections overall. 

Edwards concluded his rookie season with 1146 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns, setting a new CMS record for rushing touchdowns in a season, breaking the old mark of 15 which had stood for 35 years since Chris Dabrow set it in 1986. Edwards was twice named to the D3football.com Division III Team of the Week, both after 200-yard rushing games against Chapman, and added a third 200-yard performance in a win at Cal Lutheran. He was the only Division III freshman in the country to rush for over 1000 yards this season, while his 1146 yards places him eighth in CMS history.

Lyle, Porter, Smith and Zhang helped pave the way for Edwards while continuing the CMS tradition of dominating time of possession. The Stags led the country in that category in 2019, after finishing second in 2018, while this year they placed fifth. Lyle was a second-team All-SCIAC selection in 2019, while Porter, Smith and Zhang were each chosen for the first time. Smith added eight catches, including a touchdown reception against La Verne, from his tight end position. 

Dylan Porter and Stiles Satterlee had similar stats across the board from the CMS linebacking unit, with each of them recording 35 solo tackles and 3.5 sacks. Porter had a small edge in total tackles with 67, and was named to the D3football.com National Team of the Week after tallying 14 in a shutout win over Cal Lutheran. Satterlee was consistent all year with at least four tackles in every game except a lopsided win at Whittier when he played limited minutes, and had a huge day in a win over Chapman with 10 tackles and a key pass breakup in the final 30 seconds with the Panthers threatening to tie the score. 

The CMS defensive unit had strong balance on the All-SCIAC selections, with two defensive linemen and two defensive backs on the second team, to go along with the two first-team linebackers. Hernandez and Seana had key roles in the middle of the CMS defensive line, helping the Stags hold their opponents to less than 100 yards per game on the ground (89.5).

With Cooney and Colangelo in the backfield, meanwhile, opponents didn't have much success through the air either, as Colangelo had 44 tackles, three interceptions and nine pass break-ups, while Cooney, who was a second-team All-SCIAC selection for the third time in his career, had 36 tackles, an interception and nine break-ups despite playing half the season with a cast fully covering a broken hand. 

Maiuolo had a strong year at the placekicker spot for CMS, converting seven of his nine field goal attempts, with one of the misses coming on a 50-yarder at the end of the half that hit the crossbar.  

CMS finished the year with a 7-3 record and a 4-2 mark in SCIAC, good for second place. The Stags defeated Chapman twice and shut out Cal Lutheran, and missed out on a SCIAC title by the narrowest of margins, when Redlands came back in the final minute to defeat the Stags 22-19 on its way to a 6-0 league record.