Buzzards Bay, Mass. --  Massachusetts Maritime senior linebacker Marshall McCarthy was named as the 2016 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Football Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday afternoon, and he is one of four Buccaneers to earn all-MASCAC accolades in a vote of the league’s coaches.

A native of Duxbury, Mass. and a graduate of Duxbury High School, McCarthy leads all NCAA Division III players for a third straight week in solo tackles with 83 in just nine outings (9.2 per game), and he ranks 11^th in total stops with 108 on the season.  Marshall became the first player in school history to register back-to-back 100 tackle campaigns, as he posted 155 solo and 53 assisted stops for 208 total tackles in 19 games over the last two seasons.  McCarthy, who was tabbed as a first team all-conference performer at inside linebacker, recorded a career-high 20 tackles (16 solo) on October 22^nd at UMass Dartmouth, and he is Massachusetts Maritime’s first Defensive Player of the Year honoree since Walter Butler copped New England Football Conference Bogan Division honors in 2011.

Senior wide receiver Shane Haggerty (Cohasset, Mass./Cohasset) joined McCarthy in earning first-team all-MASCAC accolades, as he set school single-season records for receptions (66) and yards (915) this fall while hauling in five touchdown passes.  Haggerty averaged 20.5 yards on 18 kickoff returns in 2016 and chipped in with a 36.2 yard average on 24 punt attempts, as Shane also led the Buccaneers in all-purpose yards with 1,387 on the year.

Junior outside linebacker Bobby Gross (Tampa, Fla./Plant) and junior quarterback Chris Haggerty (Cohasset, Mass./Cohasset) completed the Buccaneer all-conference quartet after earning second-team all-MASCAC honors.  Gross registered 47 solo and 18 assisted tackles for 65 total stops to rank third on the team in that category, and he also ranked among the national leaders throughout the season in forced and recovered fumbles with three each.  Bobby added a pair of picks to go with two pass break-ups, and he recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown in Massachusetts Maritime’s 30-0 triumph at Fitchburg State on October 1^st.

Chris Haggerty completed 148-of-277 pass attempts for 1,805 yards and 12 touchdowns during his first season as the Buccaneers’ starting signal caller, and he earned MASCAC Offensive Player of the Week honors following a 321-yard performance and a pair of scoring strikes in a 24-21 come-from-behind victory over Westfield State on October 15^th.  Haggerty threw for a career-high 366 yards and four touchdowns on October 8^th against Western Connecticut, and he also averaged nearly 37 yards on 32 punt attempts on the year, 18 of which were placed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.

Massachusetts Maritime recorded four overall victories under 12^th-year Head Coach Jeremy Cameron’s tutelage this fall, including a 28-24 Chowder Bowl triumph over SUNY-Maritime.  A total of 47 Buccaneers have earned all-conference accolades during Cameron’s tenure, including a pair of all-New England honorees as well as two CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.