It's Been Quite A Run For BSU Quarterbacks

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Their names are listed at the top of the leaderboard for career passing yards in the history of Bridgewater State University football.

James Cahoon, Danny Higgins, Stefano D'Emilia and Mike McCarthy comprise the leading four quarterbacks, throwing for a combined total of 23,773 yards for the Bears.

And all of those yards have been compiled over the past 13 consecutive playing seasons with the quartet being linked one after another in the starting lineup from 2010-23.

McCarthy got things going as a four-year starter (2010-13) and Higgins followed with three straight seasons as a starter (2014-16). D'Emilia was the quarterback from 2017-19 and Cahoon took over from 2021-23 following an idle 2020 due to COVID.

For 13 straight playing seasons, BSU relied on just four quarterbacks who maintained the job, providing minimal interruption, and the Bears went 82-53 over that span.

McCarthy was the starter all 41 games in his career and Higgins, after backing up McCarthy in 2013, started 29 of 32 games his final three seasons.

D'Emilia was the backup to Higgins in 2016, and after being second on the depth chart in the first three games of his sophomore season, started the remaining 28 games of his career.

Cahoon was the backup to D'Emilia as a freshman in 2019, and after the COVID year, he started all 31 games the past three seasons, climbing to the top of the career passing yardage chart.

It was a rare run for BSU, having four straight quarterbacks start a minimum of three seasons with each guiding the Bears to a postseason game and all of them winning the Lee Harrington Award as the Cranberry Bowl most valuable player.

"That's what you need," said head coach Joe Verria. "You need continuity at that position because the offenses have become more complex and to have a kid who's been in the same system for multiple years is definitely an asset."

Said associate head coach and offensive coordinator Rene Moyen: "That's pretty unusual. It definitely helps. Things were very easy with guys like that. Install is the biggest thing. You can go so much faster getting everything in and it gives you so much more time to get good at it. We've definitely been blessed."

The graduation of Cahoon last spring opened the quarterback job for the 2024 season, and five candidates were in line for the position.

Senior captain SP Pragano (Northford, Conn.) emerged as the winner and will get the start when the Bears face MIT on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Mazzaferro Field.

Pragano was at Western Connecticut State University before transferring to BSU in 2022 and completed 9 of 17 passes backing up Cahoon the past two years.

McCarthy, who now operates the M2 QB Academy, opened the recent run of quarterbacks with longevity for BSU when he became the starter as a freshman. His debut game was on Sept. 4, 2010 against Mount Ida College.

McCarthy, the only three-time winner of the Cranberry Bowl MVP award, was a double threat as a runner and passer and helped the Bears make the NCAA Division 3 tournament and the Northeast Bowl in his career.

He ranks fifth all-time in career rushing yards (2,806) and second in rushing touchdowns (42) and rushing attempts (670). McCarthy sits fourth in passing yards in a career with 4,672.

"Michael was a runner first and a thrower second and then he became a tremendous all-around quarterback," said Verria. " Michael was one of the toughest all-around football players, in my opinion, who ever played here."

McCarthy was unique among the last four BSU quarterbacks because of his ability to do so much running.

"I've always said Mike was the best fullback in the league," said Moyen. "He was the best runner and one of the best football players I've seen at our level. He did it all. He was strong in everything. He wasn't a great passer when he came in, but he grew every year and by senior year was phenomenal."

Higgins, who stepped in after McCarthy graduated, helped the Bears make the NCAAs in 2016 when he was a senior.

He is second to Cahoon with 6,091 career yards, third with 871 attempts, third with 474 completions and has three of the top seven passing yardage games in school history.

"Higgins' strength was his processing," said Moyen. "He had a pretty good arm, but he was ahead of a lot of things as far as processing. Danny was very, very smart and anticipated plays well and was a solid football player. He could distribute the ball to the the guys around him."

D'Emilia was the backup to Higgins in 2016, then did not start until the fourth game of the 2017 season, taking the job over for good.

He has the second-highest yardage total in a game (345) and the second most attempts in a career (879). The Bridgewater-Raynham graduate is also second with 490 career completions, third with 5,945 career yards and fourth with 2,187 yards in a season.

"He was more of a drop-back thrower type of a quarterback with a strong arm,'' said Verria.

D'Emilia ended his career by engineering a fourth-quarter comeback in the Cranberry Bowl when the Bears scored three times to overcome a 21-6 deficit against Mass. Maritime.

"Stevie really progressed," said Moyen. "By his  junior year, Steve really got it. He was a nice mix. He had a strong arm, he processed well and had just enough athleticism to be strong in the run game.

"By the end, he was a really good quarterback. He just got better every single year. He blossomed and did a good job in the offseason to get ready."

Cahoon was D'Emilia's backup as a freshman in 2019 and became the starter following COVID.

He owns BSU records for passing yards in a career (7,065) and a season (2,658), attempts in a career (961), completions in a game (30), completions in a season (216) and completions in a career (576) while ranking first in completion percentage for a career (.599) and second with 56 passing TDs.

"He had a cannon for an arm and had a great grasp of the offense," said Verria. "He worked very hard to get to that point."

Said Moyen: "I've never seen anybody develop like that kid did. By the end, in my mind, he was a Division 1 talent. He was like a computer. He could teach me the passing game, and technique-wise, he was incredible."

The Bears put more of an emphasis on the passing game, going away from the triple option offense, nearly 15 years ago. The spread offense has featured talented receivers like Matt Green, Jack Lavanchy and Travis Bassett.

Moyen has been the offensive coordinator since 2011 and was the co-coordinator with former Bridgewater State quarterback Pat Callahan (until 2019). Another former BSU player, Caleb Gelsomino, was an assistant coach in 2022, working with the offense and quarterbacks after being on the staff at Virginia Tech.

Gelsomino, now in his second year as the offensive coordinator at Central Connecticut State, brought some of the Virginia Tech passing offense ideas to BSU.

"The system has evolved off of what those four quarterbacks strengths have been," said Verria.

It has been a special run at quarterback for the Bears, going from McCarthy to Higgins to D'Emilia and Cahoon and having them provide 13 straight seasons of continuity. Can anything like that happen again?

"I would think not, to be honest," said Moyen. "It's pretty rare, and now with the transfer portal, it's going to be much harder to develop kids, plus you can bring in kids already developed. Getting four kids in a row like that for those years, I don't think we'll see it."