Nine AMCATS Named Worcester Area Football All-Stars
PAXTON, MA : Nine players from the Anna Maria College football team were named to the 2021 Worcester Area Football Association Steve "Merc" Morris All-Star Team in an announcement by the association on Wednesday.
The AMCATS are coming off their most successful season in school history by far, as they finished 7-3 and claimed the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) Championship for the first time, receiving their first-ever bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament.
On the first team, senior defensive lineman Jude Sampson (Waterbury, CT), senior defensive back Armstrong Antoine (Stratford, CT), senior linebacker Swavaughn Small (Mattapan, MA) and sophomore wide receiver Deandre Wallace (Waterbury, CT) all represented the AMCATS after stellar seasons.
Sampson was a dominating force on the defensive line, breaking the school single-season record for sacks with 8.5, ranking him second in the conference. The team captain also tallied 57 tackles, 20 tackles for a loss (tying a school single-season record), two forced fumbles and two blocked kicks. Sampson was voted D3football.com Team of the Week once this past season, as well as one ECFC Defensive Player of the Week award.
Antoine was named to the first-team in just his first season at Anna Maria, as he led an AMCATS secondary all season long. Antoine tied a school record with seven pass breakups in a season to go along with a team-high 65 tackles in just nine games. Armstrong also recorded a 70-yard interception return and a forced rumble. Armstrong earned one ECFC Defensive Player of the Week award this season.
Small finished with 50 total tackles in just nine games, with two sacks and ten tackles-for-a-loss. The senior had been voted ECFC honorable mention this year, finishing his career ranked sixth in school history in total career tackles and fifth all-time in tackles-for-a-loss.
Wallace, the ECFC Rookie of the Year, had an outstanding first season that saw him haul in 42 receptions for 820 receiving yards and a team-high nine touchdowns. Wallace made one of the most explosive plays of the year against Mass. Maritime on September 18th, catching a pass over the middle and taking it to the endzone on a 98-yard touchdown reception. Three times this season, Wallace was recognized as the ECFC Rookie of the Week.
Anna Maria senior quarterback Alex Cohen (Plymouth, MA) was one of five AMCATS named second team all-Worcester, this after leading the ECFC in passing yards (2926), completion percentage (61.7 percent), passing yards per game (325.1), passing touchdowns (23) and quarterback efficiency (156.1). Cohen also scored six touchdowns on the ground, and ranked fifth in the nation in total offense at 341.1 and ninth in yards per pass attempt at 9.35. He was recognized during the season with three ECFC Offensive Player of the Week awards and one NEFW Golden Helmet. Cohen rewrote the AMCAT record books, setting school records for passing yards, passing touchdowns, completion percentage and passing yards per game. This was Cohen's second time being recognized on the All-Worcester team, having been previously so honored after the 2019 season.
Cohen was joined on the All-Worcester second team by senior wide receiver Justin McMillian (Middletown, CT), senior offensive lineman Devin White (Worcester, MA), senior linebacker Danny George (Leicester, MA) and junior defensive lineman Elijah Allston (Cheshire, CT).
McMillian was one of Cohen's top targets, finishing with 43 receptions for 686 yards and six touchdowns in just nine games. McMillian put on one of the greatest performances in AMCAT history against Gallaudet, catching eight passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns. His three scores tied an Anna Maria single-game record while his 211 yards were the second-most in school history.
White anchored an offensive line that blocked for the eighth-ranked passing attack in the country. The AMCATS were 41st in the nation in avoiding the sack.
George finished with 47 total tackles with 4.5 tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles and an interception in coverage.
Allston finished with 23 tackles, representing a defense front that ranked tenth in the nation in tackles for a loss.
Finally, Anna Maria head coach Dan Mulrooney was named co-Head Coach of the Year as he took a program that had gone 12-97 all-time, having never won more than two games in a season, and led them to a 7-3 record and their first-ever ECFC Championship and NCAA playoff berth. The AMCATS won more games in their 2021 season than in the previous seven seasons combined.
The Worcester Area Football Association All-Star Team is named in the memory of Steve "Merc" Morris, the longtime Assistant Director of Athletics for Media Relations and Assumption Hall of Famer. "Merc" was a 1972 graduate of Assumption and was a member of the athletics staff for 39 years before passing away in January of 2011. In addition to being the founder of the Worcester Area Association All-Star program, he was a tireless supporter of collegiate athletics in the Worcester area and had a key role in the lives of thousands of student-athletes.
Congratulations to the whole program on an amazing year!
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