Westfield, Mass. — UMass Dartmouth’s Dante Aviles-Santos and Bridgewater State’s Steven Silvia are the 2022 MASCAC Football Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year and headline the 2022 MASCAC All-Conference teams as voted on by the coaches from around the league.

 

Aviles-Santos, a junior quarterback from Cumberland, R.I., earns Offensive Player of the Year after leading the MASCAC in several categories, including total completions (199), total yards (2,940), yards per game (294), touchdowns (26) and pass efficiency (158.5). In the MASCAC clinching win over Plymouth State, he completed 26-of-29 passes (89.7%) with 316 yards and three touchdowns. He threw touchdown passes of four, 18 and 12 yards to lead the team to a perfect 8-0 league record. This is Aviles-Santos second-straight MASCAC honor after earning Offensive Rookie of the Year last season.

 

Taking home the 2022 MASCAC Defensive Player of the Year honors is Steven Silvia from Bridgewater State. The senior linebacker from Dighton, Mass., recorded 85 tackles (54 solo) with 13 tackles for loss, 2 1/2 sacks, three pass breakups and a fumble recovery to helps the Bears to a New England Bowl berth. He currently leads the MASCAC and is tied for 33rd in all of Division III in solo tackles. Silvia also ranks second among the conference leaders in tackles for loss and third in total tackles. On November 12, he captured the Lee Harrington Award as MVP of the 43rd Annual Cranberry Bowl where he notched nine tackles with seven solo stops, a sack, three tackles for loss and a fumble recovery in the win over Mass. Maritime. This is his fourth MASCAC All-Conference accolade. 

 

Brian Callery from Framingham State is the 2022 MASCAC Offensive Lineman of the Year award. The junior guard from Lowell, Mass., helped the team finish second in the conference in several categories, including rushing yards (2,029), rushing yards per game (202.9), yards per rush (4.8) and rushing first downs (122), fourth in rushing touchdowns (18), yards per game (315.5) and total offense (3,155).

 

Earning 2022 MASCAC Offensive Rookie of the Year honors is Braden Lynn from Plymouth State. The sophomore quarterback from Littleton, Mass. helped the Panthers to a 8-2 overall record and 6-2 mark in the MASCAC. At the end of the regular season, he was second in the conference in completion percentage at 64.1 percent with nine touchdowns, 1,289 yards, 128.9 per game and 107 completions on the season. His best game of the season came in the win over Westfield State where he was 13-of-21 (61.9%), 170 yards and three touchdowns of 16, 37 and 40 yards.

 

Rounding out the major award winners is Daniel Oloyede of Framingham State, the 2022 MASCAC Defensive Rookie of the Year. The freshman defensive lineman from Norwood, Mass. collected 25 tackles, including 18 solo, four sacks for a loss of 25 yards. In the Rams win over Fitchburg State, he finished with five solo tackles, three sacks for a loss of 17 yards and four tackles for a loss of 18 yards.  

 

For the first time in his career, Mark Robichaud of UMass Dartmouth has been named the BSN Sports Coach of the Year after leading the Corsairs to their first MASCAC Regular Season title and a perfect 8-0 season.