Student-Athlete Spotlights: James Cahoon & Jaren Alves
Left: James Cahoon (12) scrambling to throw a pass in the loss against University of New England on September 11th, 2021. Marc Vasconcellos/The Enterprise Right: Jaren Alves (13) head shot, provided by BSU Athletics & Recreation.
The Bridgewater State Bears are on a three-game winning streak, including the record-breaking Homecoming blowout against Fitchburg State and a blowout against Worcester State. The team has been great on both offense and defense, the instrumental players in the winning streak are quarterback James Cahoon (he/him) and cornerback Jaren Alves (he/him).
Cahoon is a 4th year senior who is physical education major with teaching licensure. Alves is a 5th year senior who is a Criminal Justice major with a African American studies minor.
Cahoon has 1,522 passing yards with 17 passing touchdowns and only three interceptions so far in the 2022 football season. This includes the record-breaking six touchdown passes that he threw in the 82-0 blowout against Fitchburg State.
“The individual record are more because of the people around me,” Cahoon said; the senior threw to four different receivers for touchdowns in the Homecoming game.
Cahoon is on pace to surpass his 18 touchdowns that he passed last season which accounts for 7th all-time most touchdown passes in a season in Bears football history. He’s also currently 5th all-time in career passing touchdowns in Bears history with 35. Cahoon also broke the Bears record for most passing yards in a season with 2,308 passing yards last season. Cahoon is currently 7th all-time in career passing yards in Bears history with 3,830 yards.
A graduate of Bourne High School, Cahoon was the varsity starting quarterback for three years. He’s also a three season athlete, playing basketball and baseball in high school. Cahoon grew up around the football field, with many members playing the sport.
Cahoon’s goals for this season are to win the MASCAC Championship and to make the MASCAC 1st-team All-Conference.
Jaren Alves has 18 tackles, 2 pass breakups, a fumble recovery and three interceptions in the 2022 season. All three interceptions were in the win against Western Connecticut University in Week 4. This performance earned him the MASCAC Defensive Player of the Week and a spot on the D3Football.com Team of the Week. Alves told The Comment that he was shocked at first, but takes it as an honor.
“I work to be the best player on the field at all times,” Alves said as he looks to get on the D3Fooball team list again later this season.
Alves started playing football at nine years old as something to get out of the house. He was on the varsity football team for East Providence High School (RI) for four years. Another three season athlete, Alves also played basketball and ran track for the East Providence Townies.
Alves is graduating in December and then planning on being a Rhode Island state trooper in February. Cahoon is planning on using his 5th year of eligibility from COVID-19 to stay with the Bears an extra year. Cahoon hopes to come back to help with coaching after he graduates from BSU.
