Cooney, Houk, Satterlee Earn Postseason Awards, 12 Stags Capture All-SCIAC

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior cornerback Ben Cooney earned the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Year Award, first-year defensive end Michael Houk won the Newcomer of the Year honor, and Stiles Satterlee captured the John Zinda Character Award, the league office announced today.

Cooney and Satterlee were joined on the All-SCIAC first team by sophomore running back Justin Edwards, senior offensive lineman Kamarion Porter, junior defensive end Joey Asta, and senior defensive back Michael Colangelo. Making the second team for the Stags included sophomore wide receiver Anderson Cynkar, senior offensive lineman William Zhang, senior defensive lineman Tyson-Jay Saena, senior defensive back Jacob O'Connell, senior kicker Alessandro Maiuolo and junior wide receiver Caleb Carfaro, who was honored for his role on special teams.

Cooney came back for his fifth season this year and was part of a defense that ranked by far as the best in the SCIAC, allowing just 9.2 points and 211.9 yards per game. He ranked second on the team in tackles with 44, of which 29 were solo and 4.5 were for losses. He was a part of five turnovers as well, forcing two fumbles, recovering one and picking off two passes, while leading the Stags with nine pass break-ups. CMS did not allow a touchdown at home all season, allowing just nine points on three field goals in four games at Zinda Field (which included games against traditional league powers Cal Lutheran, Chapman and Redlands). 

Houk was also a big part of that defensive effort, tallying 5.5 sacks, which ranked second on the team, and two forced fumbles. He had a three-sack game in a road win over Redlands and forced a fumble with another sack in a 42-0 win over Redlands in the rematch, which clinched a share of the league title for the Stags. 

Satterlee also returned for his fifth year and was one of the team's defensive leaders, ranking first on the Stags with 49 tackles. He had five tackles for losses, including a sack, forced two fumbles and recovered one, making the All-SCIAC first team for the second year in a row. He is also a SCIAC All-Academic team selection as an economics and psychology major at Claremont McKenna. Outside of sports, he has served as the undergraduate clinical director at the Claremont Autism Center, leading social skills programming for children and teens, and interned this summer as a research assistant at the University of Washington Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. 

Edwards was the SCIAC Newcomer of the Year last year and makes his second appearance on the All-SCIAC first team, after rushing for 1090 yards and 13 touchdowns this year (adding a 14th touchdown receiving). He now has 29 rushing touchdowns in two seasons, after setting a program record for a single season with 16 last year, and is just nine shy of the career record of 38, held by Chris Dabrow ('87), at the midway point of his career. 

Porter also makes his second straight appearance on the All-SCIAC first team after helping to pave the way for many of those Edwards touchdowns. He has been part of an offensive line that has helped CMS average 185 yards rushing in the last two seasons combined, while consistently dominating the time of possession category. In the last two years, the Stags have rushed for 48 touchdowns and allowed only 18 sacks. 

Asta earned first-team All-SCIAC honors after a dominant junior season which saw him rank in the top 10 in the nation in sacks per game (9.5 sacks in nine contests). Nine of his sacks were solo, including three in the win over Redlands which clinched a share of the SCIAC title. He was twice named to the D3football.com National Team of the Week this season, and was the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week after the Redlands clincher. 

The second-team selections for the Stags included three repeat selections. Zhang makes his second straight appearance after joining Porter on the dominant offensive line for the Stags in the last years. Saena won for the second year in a row for his role as the nose tackle drawing attention from multiple offensive linemen and freeing up his teammates to make tackles, while finishing with 17 of his own. Maiuolo also repeated after finishing the year 8-13 on field goals and a perfect 31-31 on extra points, while making two field goals of 50 yards or more (with a long of 54). 

Cynkar makes his first appearance on the All-SCIAC teams after finishing the year with 37 ctaches for 521 yards and five touchdowns, including a 90-yarder in the regular season finale at Pomona-Pitzer. O'Connell earns his first postseason award after picking off two passes, giving him seven in his career. Carfaro had six special teams tackles for the Stags and was valuable on both sides of special teams play with his lead blocking as well. 

CMS finished the year with a 7-2 record, tying for first place in the SCIAC at 5-1 to earn a share of the sixth league title in program history. The Stags also reached the seven-win plateau for the fifth time in the last seven years, and earned its second league championship in the last four seasons.