Cape Cod, MA --- Worcester State senior Graham Asum (Marlboro, MA) along with junior teammates AJ Scerra (Marlboro, MA) and Bryan Narcisse (Medway, MA) highlighted six Lancers who were selected to the New England Football Conference (NEFC) All-Bogan Division squad in a vote by the leagues seven head coaches this week.
Asum, Scerra and Narcisse all received a nod to the first-team while senior Corey Spencer (Malden, MA) and third-year Matthew Begley (E. Bridgewater, MA) were both second-team honorees. Freshman Y-Kim Sheppard (Waterford, CT) also was billed the NEFC Bogan Division Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Narcisse anchored one of the best pass rushing units in the NEFC as he rotated between defensive tackle and defensive end. Narcisse ended the regular season with the top spot in the 16-team conference in tackles for a loss (18.5 for 93 yards) and he tied for second in sacks (6-5 for 65 yards) while he also forced a pair of fumbles.
Among those at his position in the conference, Narcisse is second in solo tackles (46) and he is third in both total tackles (67) and stops per game (6.7). Regionally, he is third in New England in tackles for a loss per game (1.85) while he is also 16th in the NCAA Division III.
Scerra had a breakout season for the Blue and Gold as the team's starting slot receiver. The 2010 second-team All-NEFC selection finished the year with a school-record 85 receptions for 958 yards and eight touchdowns. He is currently second in Division III in total receptions while his average is eighth.
In his three-year career, Scerra has been a force in the receiving game. In his career he has 141 catches for 1,831 yards and 19 TDs. He is just 20 receptions, 1,200 yards and two scores away from being the school's all-time leader in each category.
Within the last week, Asum put the exclamation point on a terrific return specialist season that has seen him shatter the Division III New England record for single-season kickoff return yardage (952) and the NEFC career kickoff yardage benchmark (2,098) – marks that were nearly 20 years old.
Asum is the only player in Division III with three scores on kickoff returns and he is fifth in the nation in kick return average (31.7). He broke the single-season record which was held by Lancer Hall of Famer Kevin Gniadek, who led the nation in kick return average in 2001 (31.4).
Begley was a standout on defense in his first season starting at linebacker for WSU. In addition to leading the squad with 70 tackles (51 solo), he did a little bit of everything as he ended the regular season campaign with 11 tackles for a loss for 70 yards, four pass break-ups, three sacks, a trio of interceptions and three forced fumbles.
Begley is currently 20th in the NEFC both tackles per game (7.0) and total passes defended (7).
In his final season after serving as the reserve quarterback for the last two campaigns, Spencer had one of the finest passing seasons in Worcester State history as he finished the year with the schools second-highest passing yardage and touchdown total.
Spencer finished his 10-game regular season slate leading the NEFC in passing yardage (2,825), average passing (282.5 YPG) and completion percentage (.665) while his 23 passing scores were also tied for third in the conference.
Spencer is one of three signal callers in New England to throw for over 2,500 yards this season and 11 nationally.
Sheppard impressed in his rookie year as brought consistency to a position that has been plagued with injuries while he finished the season with 46 tackles (37 solo), 3.5 tackles for a loss and five passes defended – starting in all 10 games. At his position he was 30th in the NEFC in tackling (4.6 per game) and second among first year players.
Sheppard becomes the fourth Worcester State Defensive NEFC Rookie of the Year. The others included Jim Ouellette (1994), Danny Harris (2003) and Tyler Asam (2010).
Under the direction of 30th year head coach Brien Cullen, the Lancers finished their second-straight winning season at 6-4 while they ended the campaign at 4-3 in NEFC Bogan Division action. It marked the first time since the 2003 and 2004 season that the Blue and Gold have had consecutive winning slates.
They await news of a possible ECAC Division III Bowl berth when the announcement is made on Monday.