Thirteen members of the Case Western Reserve University football team received All-Presidents' Athletic Conference football honors for their play during the 2023 campaign, as announced by the conference office on Thursday night.
CWRU junior wide receiver Noah Coyne, senior offensive lineman Jace Merritt, junior defensive back Dominic Sais, junior punter Joseph Rhodes V, and senior defensive lineman Kaden Tong were each named to the All-PAC First Team, while senior linebacker Sean Torres was named to the Second Team. Junior defensive back Nate Cikalo, senior defensive lineman AJ Dudowski, junior running back Gage Duesler, senior quarterback Alex Fromberg, graduate student defensive lineman Michael Kelly, sophomore offensive lineman Owen Myer, and senior wide receiver Michael Wojkowski were all named All-PAC honorable mentions.
It marked the third career All-PAC honor for both Tong (2022 second team and 2021 honorable mention) and Rhodes (honorable mention in both 2021 and 2022), while Merritt and Cikalo each earned the award for the second time in their careers after both were named to the All-PAC Second Team in 2022.
In addition, CWRU sophomore linebacker Brady Bartusiak, who saw the majority of his playing time on special teams this season, was named to the 2023 PAC Football Sportsmanship Team.
Coyne recorded one of the best seasons by a receiver in program history, finishing the year with 44 catches for 1,001 yards and 11 touchdowns. He led all PAC receivers and was 10th in Division III with 22.75 yards per reception and ranked second in the league in receiving touchdowns and third in receiving yards. Coyne played in all 10 games for the Spartans, recording at least 100 yards receiving on five occasions, including a 258-yard, three-touchdown performance against Washington & Jefferson on October 28 that led to him being named to the D3football.com Team of the Week.
Merritt started all 10 games at center for the Spartans and has now started all 30 games at the position during his CWRU career. He captained an offensive line that allowed just 1.4 sacks per game during the season, while allowing the Spartans to average 400.2 yards per game, the second-best mark in the conference.
Sais led all PAC players with six interceptions during the season, tied for the eight-most in a season in program history and the most by a Spartan player since the 2011 campaign. His 0.6 interceptions per game are the seventh-most among all Division III players this year. Sais, who started all 10 games at cornerback, finished the year with 51 tackles (36 solo), including four for loss, and added a team-high seven pass breakups.
Rhodes helped the Spartans win the field position battle throughout the year with his punting, averaging 37.1 yards per punt, including a pair of punts over 50 yards. He forced 13 fair catches and pinned his opponents inside their 20-yard line on 11 of his 33 punts. He was named the punter on the D3football.com Team of the Week on October 17 after punting four times for an average of 47.2 yards per punt in the CWRU win over Westminster, including three punts inside of the 20-yard line.
Tong, who started all 10 games at defensive end, was second among all PAC players with 10 sacks during the year, the fifth-most in a single-season in program history, and ranked 14th in Division III with 1.0 sacks per game. He led all CWRU players during the year with 70 tackles (35 solo) and 11.5 tackles for loss, while also recording two pass breakups, five quarterback hurries, and a forced fumble. He was named to the D3football.com Team of the Week twice during the year, the first time after recording nine tackles, including 3.5 for loss and three sacks against Thiel on September 2, and the second time after notching a career-high 14 tackles with three tackles for loss and two sacks against Bethany on September 30.
Torres started every game for the Spartans at inside linebacker, finishing the year second on the team with 65 tackles, including 32 solo. He added 1.5 tackles for loss, four pass breakups, one quarterback hurry, and one fumble recovery.
Cikalo started all eight games he played in at strong safety, totaling 40 tackles, including 26 solo. He had one tackle for a loss and three pass breakups.
Dudowski started all 10 games for the Spartans, finishing the year with 44 tackles, and was second on the team with eight tackles for loss and four sacks. He added a pass breakup, three quarterback hurries, and forced one fumble. Dudowski was named the PAC Defensive Player of the Week on October 23 after totaling four tackles (two solo), including one sack, two-and-a-half tackles for loss, and one quarterback hurry during a 35-0 win over Waynesburg.
Duesler was the Spartans' leading rusher during the season, finishing the campaign with 465 rushing yards and four touchdowns while catching an additional eight passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for a career-high 130 yards on 10 carries against Waynesburg on October 21, scoring a pair of touchdowns.
Fromberg played in all 10 games for CWRU and was the team's starting quarterback through most of the season. He completed 56.6% of his passes for 2,323 yards and 23 touchdowns with eight interceptions while rushing for an additional 381 yards and a team-high six touchdowns. Fromberg was named the PAC Offensive Player of the Week following the team's 42-7 win over Geneva, throwing for 295 yards and three touchdowns while running for 96 yards and an additional two scores.
Kelly started all 10 games at defensive tackle, totaling 16 tackles and 0.5 tackle for loss. He was a key factor in the Spartans controlling their opponents' running game throughout the year, as the Spartans held opposing teams to 93.2 rushing yards per game, the 37th-fewest in Division III and third-lowest in the PAC.
In his first season as a starter for the Spartans, Myer made a major impact on the offensive line. He started the first nine games of the season at right tackle before missing the final game of the campaign due to injury.
Wojkowski finished the campaign with 27 receptions for 434 yards and three touchdowns. He caught at least one pass in nine of the team's 10 games during the year, including a season-high six catches against Carnegie Mellon in the final game of the year, and a season-best 73 yards against Grove City on September 16.
The Spartans finished the season with a 7-3 record, the most wins in a season by the team since the 2019 campaign. CWRU ended the year fourth in the conference standings.
