Ben Cooney Captures First-Team All-America Honors from AFCA

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior cornerback Ben Cooney became the first Claremont-Mudd-Scripps football player to earn first-team Division III All-America honors from the American Football Coaches Association, the organization announced on Tuesday morning.

Cooney is just the second Stag to capture AFCA Division III All-America honors, with Brian Wahl earning second-team AFCA All-America distinction as an offensive guard in 2018. Jacob Lyle was a fourth-team D3football.com All-America winner last year as an offensive tackle, while Victor Bunce was an honorable mention selection from D3football.com in 2015 and 2016 as a cornerback. Steve Endemano was also a first-team NAIA All-America in 1970 before the program moved to the NCAA Division III level in 1973. 

Cooney was the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Year after a standout season for by far the top team defense in the league. The Stags allowed just 9.2 ppg as a team, as well as only 211.9 yards (including 149.9 passing yards) per game, and did not allow a touchdown in five of their nine contests. Opponents threw only eight touchdown passes in nine games, to go along with 12 interceptions. 

Individually, Cooney finished the year with 44 tackles (29 solo), including 4.5 for losses, and had two interceptions, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, and nine pass break-ups. He ended his four year career with 165 tackles, 11 interceptions and 39 break-ups, while contributing to a pair of league championships in 2018 and 2022. 

In 2022, CMS ranked seventh in the country in total defense and scoring defense, 18th in pass efficiency defense, and 22nd in passing yards allowed. In the Stags' top non-conference game at Whitworth, Cooney had nine tackles, including two for losses, and an interception in a 12-7 loss, earning SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week.

Cooney earned the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week a second time on Oct. 10 after coming up with a pair of turnovers in a 28-6 win over Chapman, which both came on opposite one-yard lines. He forced a fumble on the Chapman one-yard line to set up a touchdown that put the Stags ahead 21-6, and then intercepted a pass on the CMS one-yard line to kill Chapman's final drive. He broke up three passes in a 42-0 shutout win over Redlands that clinched a share of the SCIAC title for the Stags. 

During his career, Cooney earned All-SCIAC distinction all four seasons, with three selections to the second-team in 2018, 2019 and 2021, to go along with his Defensive Player of the Year honor and first-team distinction in 2022. He was chosen to the D3football.com National Team of the Week in 2019 after recording an interception and six pass break-ups in a win over Puget Sound.