CLAREMONT, Calif. - Seven members of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps football team earned All-SCIAC honors in a vote of the league's coaches, the conference office announced today. 

Four Stags were named to the first team, including offensive guard Aseli Fangupo, defensive end Michael Houk, linebacker George Kruger and running back Cooper Nixon. 

Chosen to the second team for CMS were defensive back Andrew Carrasquillo, defensive lineman Grady Johnson and offensive guard Zeke Vallez.

Houk earned first-team All-SCIAC honors for the third year in a row, after earning Newcomer of the Year distinction in his rookie campaign in 2022. He tallied 48 tackles and eight sacks this season, finishing with 12.5 tackles for losses, and totaled 19 sacks and 35 tackles for losses in his four-year Stag career. 

Kruger finished the season with 112 tackles, the first Stag to reach 100 tackles in a season since the NCAA began keeping tackles as an official statistic for Division III in 2008. He had 20 tackles in the first meeting with La Verne, 11 solo tackles against Pomona-Pitzer, and his final tackle of the year was for a safety to help seal a 5-0 win in the rematch with La Verne. 

Nixon came on strong in the second half of the season for CMS, tallying 738 yards rushing in the last five contests, including 207 yards in an overtime defeat to SCIAC champion Chapman, and 178 yards in the finale against La Verne. He also had 144 yards and a touchdown in a win at Redlands and 123 yards and a touchdown in the second meeting with Cal Lutheran.

Nixon's emergence coincided with the insertion of Aseli Fangupo and Zeke Vallez as offensive guards. The two linemen helped the Stags tally 867 yards rushing in the second half of the season (173.2 yards per game), after just 288 in the first half of the season. Vallez also sometimes played both ways, seeing action on the defensive line on some possessions. 

Johnson ranked fourth on the Stags in tackles with 46, including four sacks and nine tackles for losses. He had a season-high eight tackles in games against Redlands and La Verne, and closed out the year with two tackles for losses and a pass break up in the rematch with La Verne. 

Carrasquillo ended the year with 36 tackles as one of the Stags' starting cornerbacks, adding five pass break ups and a forced fumble. He had a 10-tackle game in a win at George Fox, which the Stags won with a late touchdown. 

CMS ended the year with a 5-5 record, with all five losses coming in single-possession contests (eight points or less).