CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The awards keep coming in for the Wesleyan football team as Head Coach Dan DiCenzo was recognized by the New England Football Writers Association (NEFW) as the Division II/III New England Coach of the Year. In addition, the NEFW honored wide receiver Chase Wilson '25, linebacker Ben Carbeau '25, and defensive back Dylan Connors '26 with 2024 College Division All-New England honors.
 
DiCenzo is the first-ever Wesleyan coach recognized by the NEFW as Coach of the Year while three Cardinals earning All-New England honors is a single-season team record. Wesleyan's contingent of honorees will be recognized formally at the NEFW Captains and Awards Banquet on Thursday, December 12 at the Sheraton Framingham hotel and conference center.
 
In his 10^th season as head coach at Wesleyan, DiCenzo made history as the first ever coach of the Cardinals to earn the NEFW Division II/III Coach of the Year. DiCenzo and his coaching staff – Eric Ludwig, Adam Chicoine, Dave Benoit, Quentin Jones, Ben Dorfman, Dario Highsmith '20, Pat Leone '19, John Capodice, and Trace Healy – were previously recognized as the NESCAC Coaching Staff of the Year, another first-time accomplishment for the team. The Cardinals finished 8-1 in 2024, defeating Trinity 27-17 in Hartford to secure the team's first-ever outright NESCAC Championship. Wesleyan also defeated Amherst 31-14 and Williams 25-24 to claim a third straight Little Three title, something that has only happened once previously in team history all the way back in 1946-48. In 10 years at Wesleyan, DiCenzo is 56-23 (.709), posting winning seasons in all nine non-COVID impacted years.
 
Wilson backs up his second straight All-NESCAC First Team selection with his first career All-New England honor. The 2024 NESCAC Offensive Player of the Year finished the season with 43 catches for 834 yards and seven touchdowns in nine games. His 19.4 yards per catch is the highest average by a receiver with at least 30 catches in the NESCAC since 2019 while it's the highest per catch average by a Cardinal receiver with 30+ catches since Pat Moffett '04 in 2002. Wilson's 834 receiving yards is a single-season career high as he went for 90+ yards in 6-of-9 weeks. He scored a touchdown in five straight weeks to open the year and had TD receptions of 87, 75, and 66 yards throughout the campaign.
 
A dominant force on one of the best defenses in the country all season, Carbeau adds an All-New England honor to a tremendous career resume that includes two All-NESCAC First Team selections and the 2024 NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year award. A three-year starter at linebacker, Carbeau put up monster numbers in 2024 including 66 tackles (32 solo) with 14.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks. He led the team in all three categories and became the first NESCAC linebacker to lead the league in TFL since 2019. Both his TFL and sack totals are at least double his previous single-season career high while he captained a defense that ranked first in the NESCAC in scoring defense, passing defense, fumbles recovered, opponent first downs, opponent third down success rate, and red zone defense.
 
Connors was a dynamo on defense all year for the Cardinals, impacting the game at all three levels, totaling 43 tackles (29 solo) with 8.5 tackles for loss, seven pass breakups, two interceptions, one blocked kick, and one sack in nine games played. In his second year as a regular contributor on defense and his first as a starter, Connors put up some jaw-dropping numbers including nine tackles (seven solo), two for loss, one sack, and two pass breakups in the Week 4 win at Hamilton. He followed that with eight tackles (seven solo), two for loss, and two pass breakups in the Week 5 overtime win over Colby. Connors was integral in the Little 3 games, snagging interceptions against both Amherst and Williams, with his INT against the Ephs returned 41 yards for a touchdown.