By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Eight members of the Bridgewater State University football team have received All-Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference honors.
Senior kicker Joey Naso (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) was selected to the all-conference first team for a third consecutive season.
Junior defensive lineman Jorge Aquino (Bergenfield, N.J.) is on the All-MASCAC first team for the initial time in his career.
Six other players earned spots on the second team, including senior outside linebacker Jonah Familia (Worcester, Mass.), senior defensive lineman Mark DeGirolamo (Mansfield, Mass.), sophomore offensive lineman Philip D'Alleva (Peabody, Mass.), senior offensive lineman Matthew Leofanti (Franklin, Mass.), senior Mohale Mitchell (Lakewood, Col.) and senior running back Andrew Cloutman (Hanson, Mass.).
The Bears finished 5-5 after a 1-4 start to the season. BSU won four straight games after its bye week before losing to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 20-7, in the 46th annual Cranberry Bowl.
The Bears were 5-4 in the MASCAC to finish tied for fifth place with Mass. Maritime, two games behind first-place Framingham State, Anna Maria and Plymouth State.
Naso established three BSU records, including most point-after conversion kicks in a career, best PAT percentage and most points by a kicker.
Naso had 136 PATs in his career, breaking the record of 93 set by Ripp Charters from 1987-90.
He converted 136 of 143 PATS for a .951 percentage, breaking the previous mark of .938 set by Dave Leombruno (2007-08, 2010).
Naso had 178 points as a kicker, topping the previous record of 154, set by Matt Carroll from 1991-94.
Also, Naso ranks second at BSU with 46 straight conversion kicks made.
In his final season with the Bears, Naso made 36 of 38 PATs and was 8-for-11 for field goals, scoring 60 points.
He led the MASCAC in points, PAT conversion percentage (95%) and was second in field goals and field goal percentage (73%).
On a national level, Naso is currently tied for 35th in all of Division III in field goal percentage and is tied for 43rd in field goals made per game (0.80).
Aquino led the conference in quarterback sacks with nine and tied for first with 59 yards lost by sacks.
He was also first with 15 tackles for a loss and was second with 69 yards loss while also having six pass breakups and was third on the team with 53 tackles.
Aquino is currently tied for 21st in all of Division III in sacks per game (0.90) and is tied for 32nd in tackles for loss per game (1.50).
In 30 career games, Aquino has 118 tackles with 23 for a loss of 116 yards and 14 sacks for 99 yards.
Familia appeared in all 10 games and made 34 tackles with 2 1/2 for a loss of three yards.
Familia had played one game in 2023 and nine a year ago. He tallied 51 tackles (30 solo), 3 1/2 tackles for loss, two pass breakups, a fumble recovery and a blocked kicks over 20 games.
DeGirolamo is on the All-MASCAC team for a second time in his career after making the second team as a sophomore in 2023.
In 10 games this season, DeGirolamo led the Bears with 61 tackles and was third with five sacks for 25 yards.
He had 9 1/2 tackles for a loss of 32 yards and recorded 143 career tackles with 10 1/2 sacks and 25 1/2 for a loss.
D'Alleva and Leofanti were part of an offensive line that had a balanced offense and was among the top scoring teams in the MASCAC.
The Bears scored 29.6 points per game to trail only Anna Maria and Plymouth State, which both finished in a three-way tie for first.
BSU had 1,889 yards of passing offense and 1,538 rushing yards. The Bears averaged 342.7 yards of total offense per game.
Mitchell had team-highs of 27 receptions for 666 yards, averaging 66.6 per game, and scored three touchdowns.
Mitchell had four receptions of at least 50 yards with his best going for 74 yards and a touchdown against Anna Maria. He also had a 73-yard reception in the opener at Curry.
In 16 games over two seasons at BSU, Mitchell notched 31 catches for 727 yards.
Cloutman finished with 673 rushing yards on 114 carries in nine games this season and caught three passes.
The highlight of Cloutman's season came in the home finale, a 41-35 win over Anna Maria.
Cloutman scored four touchdowns and rushed for 237 yards on 27 carries.
He had TD runs of 32, 4, 12 and 4 yards, the last one coming in overtime to give the Bears the win.
Cloutman became the first BSU runner since 2019 to reach 200 rushing yards in a game.
Over three seasons with the Bears, Cloutman has rushed for 744 yards and ten touchdowns on 132 carries.