Football Captains Named at Massachusetts Maritime Academy

2015 Mass. Maritime Football Co-Captain David Yerxa
MMA Athletics Photo

BUZZARDS BAY — Massachusetts Maritime football head coach Jeremy Cameron (Springfield ’97) named a quartet of Buccaneer senior standouts yesterday who will serve as team captains for the upcoming 2015 season. This fall will mark Cameron’s 11^th year at the football helm on Taylor’s Point.

Cameron has tabbed Brad Skeffington (Salem, Mass./Salem), David Yerxa (Milford, Conn./Foran), Grady McCarthy (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) and Ash Ergle (Modoc, S.C./Fox Creek) to lead this year’s squad, which returns 50 letter-winners and 11 starters from last fall. Massachusetts Maritime posted four overall victories in 2014, including a double-overtime 26-20 triumph in the Admiral’s Cup clash with Maine Maritime and a 31-21 season-ending win at rival Bridgewater State in the 36^th Annual Cranberry Bowl Presented By Ocean Spray.

“All four of these seniors have played crucial roles, both on and off the field, in the continued development and success of our program by being good teammates and leaders on and off the field,” Cameron, who begins his second decade at Massachusetts Maritime this fall, says

of his 2015 captains. “They have set a high standard for achievement in competition and in their studies, and their example is the one I want all of our players to emulate.”

2015 Mass. Maritime Football Co-Captain Brad Skeffington
MMA Athletics Photo

Skeffington has been a versatile, two-way performer for the Buccaneers throughout his career, and last season was no exception. He rushed for 206 yards on 61 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns as a running back, and he also hauled in seven catches for 66 yards and two more scores as a receiver. On the defensive side, Brad added made seven total tackles (five solo) and recorded an interception, and he looks to take over as Massachusetts Maritime’s signal caller this fall.

Yerxa rushed for a career-best 126 yards on 45 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns in 2014, while McCarthy amassed a career-high 21 total tackles (14 solo) to go with a pass break-up and a forced fumble in the defensive backfield. Ergle chipped in with 20 total stops (13 solo) on the defensive line for the Buccaneers, as he lends experience up front with 13 career appearances.

Massachusetts Maritime kicks off the 2015 campaign on Friday, September 11^th when Cameron’s Buccaneers entertain rival SUNY-Maritime in the Eighth Annual Chowder Bowl at Clean Harbors Stadium beginning at 6:00 p.m. EDT.

— Press release provided by Massachusetts Maritime Academy Director of Sports information Jim Seavey. Edited by Capecod.com Sports Editor Sean Walsh.

9/11	vs. SUNY-Maritime •	6:00 PM	LS V
9/19	at Maine Maritime •	12:00 PM	V
9/26	at Worcester State * •	1:00 PM
10/3	vs. Fitchburg State * •	12:00 PM	LS V
10/10	at Western Connecticut * •	12:00 PM
10/17	at Westfield State * •	2:00 PM
10/24	vs. Mass-Dartmouth * •	12:00 PM	V
10/31	at Framingham State * •	12:00 PM	LS
11/7	vs. Plymouth State * •	1:00 PM	V
11/14	vs. Bridgewater State * •	12:00 PM	LS V