GREENWOOD, Ind. – Eight members of the Washington & Jefferson College football team earned spots on the 2024 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® Football Teams, announced by the Organization Tuesday (Jan. 7).
The 2024 Academic All-District® Football teams, selected by College Sports Communicators (CSC), recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes football honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NAIA.
Sean Berardino (Millersville, Md./Archbishop Spalding),
Zach Cernuto (Scottdale, Pa./Southmoreland),
Grant Cullen (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Central Catholic),
Dawson Dietz (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton),
Justin Johns (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional),
Joey Lacey (Bristow, Va./Avalon School),
Owen Petrisek (Ellsworth, Pa./Bentworth),
Michael Roginsky (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) represented W&J on the list.
Berardino, a two-time CSC Academic All-District recipient, started all 11 games for the Presidents defensive side of the ball as an outside backer. Berardino finished with 25 tackles (15 assisted, 10 solo) during his 2024 campaign. He also logged pivotal sack fumbles in back-to-back weeks against Geneva and Grove City.
Cernuto, a two-time CSC Academic All-District recipient, started all 11 games for the W&J this season as their leading tight end. Cernuto worked his way to his second All-PAC First Team honor this season as well. The versatile tight end hit career highs in receiving yards (286), receiving touchdowns (six) and receptions (36). Cernuto earned PAC Offensive Player of the week and a spot on the D3football.com Team of the Week after his performance against Case Western Reserve (Nov. 2). Cernuto logged two career highs with 14 receptions and 123 receiving yards. His reception total of 14 marks the most catches by a W&J receiver since
Payton Skalos (16 receptions vs. Westminster Oct. 26, 2019).
Cullen picks up his second CSC Academic All-District honor following the 2024 season. Cullen, a three-year starter, earned All-PAC honorable mention after helping lead the Presidents to their conference championship. Cullen started all 10 games at the center position.
Dietz keeps the senior year accolades coming with his third career CSC Academic All-District honor. So far, the Presidents defensive anchor has picked up All-America First Team honors from the Associated Press, American Football Coaches Association, and D3football.com. Dietz was also named a finalist for the 2024 Cliff Harris Award, which is the first W&J finalist since Williams from the 2019 season and was named All-Region 2 Defensive Player of the Year.
As the 2024 Presidents' Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Dietz finished the season as one of the nation's top defensive disrupters, leading the conference in tackles for loss (22.5) and sacks (13, career-high). Dietz ranked second in all of NCAA Division III in tackles for loss and fourth in sacks. Dietz holds the fourth most tackles for loss at W&J with 57 in his career to this point, passing both
Stephen Swentkowsky '90 (56.5) and
Dan Primrose '96 (53) in their last regular season matchup against Allegheny (Nov. 21). Dietz was also named to the D3football.com Team of the week in back-to-back weeks (Oct. 29 and Nov. 5).
Johns adds his third CSC Academic All-District honor following his fifth year with the Presidents. Johns put a historic cap to his career in the PAC by becoming W&J's all-time leading tackler. Johns posted five total tackles against Allegheny (Nov. 16), compiling 350 career tackles to lift past former W&J tackle leader Eric Field '04 (348 career tackles). Johns finished sixth in the conference with 84 total tackles and tied for 11
th in tackles for loss with nine. He finished his career with 362 total tackles.
Johns also picked up his fourth All-PAC honor out of his five seasons played. The All-PAC First Team linebacker picked up a PAC Defensive Player of the Week honor for his performance against Westminster (Oct. 5).
Lacey stepped up down the stretch for the Presidents after a spot on the linebacking core opened up through injuries. The third-year linebacker player in 10 games and started the final two including a start in the Presidents first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2018. Lacey finished his junior campaign with 18 total tackles (11 assisted, seven solo), three tackles for loss and a half sack. Lacey is a first-time recipient of the CSC Academic All-District team.
Petrisek picks up his first CSC Academic All-District honor following his best season at W&J. "Powerball" Petrisek logged a career-high 557 rushing yards with three touchdowns for an average yards per carry of 6.1. The senior running back also caught his first passes at W&J this season with his longest being a 60-yard catch-and-run for six. His best game on the ground came against ranked foe Carnegie Mellon, gashing the Tartans defense for 107 yards and a touchdown. Petrisek produced despite being incorporated in a three-headed backfield, playing in all but one game this season.
Wrapping up the W&J recipients is Roginsky as a first-time member of the CSC Academic All-District team. The sophomore lineman started nine games for W&J and played in all 11. The versatile lineman played around the right side of the offensive line ranging from time as the starting right tackle to the interior guard.
Academic All-District® honorees were considered for advancement to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot. Student-athletes selected as CSC Academic All-America® finalists are denoted with an asterisk below and will advance to the national ballot to be voted on by CSC members. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced Jan. 28, 2025. Cernuto, Dietz and Johns each represent W&J as CSC Academic All-America finalists.
To be eligible for CSC Academic All-District®, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically, hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or higher and be a standout on the field, competing in at least 90 percent of their team's games and starting at least 66 percent of their team's games.
