Sports News: Fall 2000

September 5, 2000

MORAVIAN AT DELAWARE VALLEY FOOTBALL PREVIEW

THE GAME: Moravian looks to open the 2000 season with a victory as the Greyhounds travel to Doylestown to begin the year in a Middle Atlantic Conference game against Delaware Valley College. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. at James Work Memorial Stadium.

THE COACHES: Scot Dapp (West Chester ’73) is in his 14th season at Moravian, with a career record of 82-50-1 (.620). He enters the season 42nd in winning percentage among NCAA Division III active coaches. Dapp has earned Coach-of-the-Year accolades from the MAC three times including Co-Coach of the Year honors in 1997 and has led the ’Hounds to two appearances in the NCAA playoffs.

Delaware Valley coach Matt DiBernardo (Tampa ’90) is in his first season at the school and Saturday's game will be his first as a collegiate head coach.

THE SERIES: Saturday’s meeting will be the 38th in the series with Moravian holding a 25-10-2 advantage. Moravian's last win in the series was in 1997 with a 28-10 win at home while Delaware Valley has won the last two meetings including last year’s 26-20 overtime victory.

LAST TIME THEY MET: In Bethlehem last fall, Moravian had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation but a Kevin Smith 32-yard field goal attempt sailed wide to the left to send the game to overtime tied at 20-20. Delaware Valley won the game in the first extra session, 26-20. The Aggies scored on a two-yard touchdown run by Al Glackin but the extra-point failed, leaving the door open for the Greyhounds. However, Delaware Valley’s Duke Greco intercepted a Rob Petrosky pass in the end zone to finish the game. Moravian led 12-0 at the end of the first quarter following a pair of Petrosky touchdown passes. His first strike was to wideout Jarod Rhinehart (Washington, NJ/Warren Hills Regional HS) and the second was to tight end Kevin McHale. The Greyhounds missed both extra-point attempts and it would come back to haunt them. Delaware Valley took a 13-12 halftime lead on a pair of Joey Shenko touchdown passes to Matt Alteri and Rich Gear. The Aggies extended their lead to 20-7 in the third quarter on a Shenko touchdown strike to Frank Schumann. The Greyhounds tied the game with just over six minutes remaining on a touchdown from tailback Josh Fick (Emmaus/Emmaus HS) and a two-point conversion from Petrosky to McHale. The Greyhounds sacked Shenko for the tenth time with just under a minute remaining in regulation and forced a fumble to set-up Smith’s field goal attempt. Moravian moved the ball down to the 15 yard line to setup the kick but without any timeouts, Smith and the kicking team rushed onto the field to get the kick off as the horn sounded.

SCOUTING DELAWARE VALLEY: The Aggies, like Moravian, posted a 2-8 record last season and look to rebound this year. Junior Duke Greco, who intercepted the pass to end last season’s game, will start at quarterback for Delaware Valley with Shenko’s graduation. Greco’s top targets will be juniors Rich Gear and Mike DePalma. Gear had 20 catches for 293 yards and one touchdown a year ago while DePalma had five receptions for 44 yards. Sophomore tight end Kevin Moloney caught 23 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns last season. Sophomore Al Glackin had 135 yards and four touchdowns on 44 carries last season and will start at tailback. Glackin will also return kickoffs and punts this year. Senior Nick Cenci will also see action at tailback after gaining 212 yards on 43 carries. Freshman Derek Milligan will start in the fullback position. Senior Jon Hoxworth will handle the placekicking duties while freshman Tom Kramer will be Delaware Valley’s punter. Senior defensive tackle Nick Losey will anchor the Aggies defense after making 60 tackles, 14 for loss and three and a half sacks last season. Junior linebacker Brian Christy had 58 tackles a year ago with one interception and three pass-break-ups. Junior defensive end J.P. Kleinle had 17 tackles with six for loss and two sacks while junior defensive tackle Nick Lombardo had 13 tackles. Junior linebacker Brian Gallagher added 16 tackles.

YOUNG, BALANCED & EXPERIENCED ‘HOUNDS: Of the 77 players on the Moravian roster, 27 are freshmen, 30 are sophomores and 13 are juniors. There are seven seniors on this season’s squad and the Greyhounds returns 35 letterwinners and 14 starters.

GREYHOUNDS IN THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC CONFERENCE: Moravian was selected to tie for fifth in the MAC Commonwealth preseason poll this season while Delaware Valley was picked fifth in the MAC Freedom poll. Lycoming College was again selected as the top team in the MAC.

MOYER & BOWDEN TO LEAD THE ‘HOUNDS OFFENSE: Senior quarterback Jed Moyer (Dresher/Upper Dublin HS) and sophomore signal caller Charlie Bowden (Parlin, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial HS) will split time at the quarterback position this season. Moyer has completed 10 of 17 career passes for 181 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions while Bowden completed one of five passes last season for six yards with one interception..

IN THE BACKFIELD: Senior tailback P.J. Jankowicz (Belle Meade, NJ/Hillsborough HS) heads into his senior season just 141 yards shy of becoming the seventh Greyhound player to run for 2,000 yards in a career. Jankowicz, who had 171 carries for 531 yards and two touchdowns in 1999, needs 149 carries to set the Moravian record. Jankowicz will be backed-up by sophomore Josh Fick (Emmaus/Emmaus HS) and freshman transfer Tim Barlok (Bethlehem/Bethlehem Catholic HS). Fick carried the ball 42 times last season and gained 312 yards and scored six touchdowns. Of Fick’s six touchdowns, three were from longer than 50 yards. Barlok comes to Moravian from Bryant College, a NCAA Division II school in Rhode Island. While at high school at Bethlehem Catholic, Barlok ran for over 1,000 yards. Senior Frank Starner (Nazareth/Nazareth HS) will start at fullback after gaining 19 yards on five carries. Freshman Eric Gustafson (Collingswood, NJ/Collingswood HS) will also see time at fullback.

THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds do have both starting wide receivers back this season. Sophomore Jarod Rhinehart (Washington, NJ/Warren Hills Regional HS) caught a team high 27 passes last season for 389 yards and five touchdowns. Junior Michael Abbate (South Plainfield, NJ/Bishop Ahr HS) had 21 receptions for 298 yards and two scores last year. Freshmen Jeff Lowry (Catawissa/Southern Columbia HS) and Kevin Miltenberger (Carlisle/Carlisle HS) will also see time this season. Sophomore Richard Kulp (Walnutport/Northampton HS) will start at tight end this fall. Kulp had five catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns as a backup last season. Sophomore Thomas Lonergan (Schuylkill Haven/Nativity BVM) will backup Kulp.

OFFENSIVE LINE: Moravian has three starters back on the offensive line this season including senior tackle Adam Smith (Allentown/Parkland HS). Smith will anchor the line which averages 6’0", 253. Junior Matt Gray (Point Pleasant, NJ/Point Pleasant HS) is moving from center to the other tackle position. Junior Jon Williams (Allentown/Parkland HS) returns to one guard spot while sophomore John Giacchi (Franklin, NJ/Pope John XXIII) will move into the starting role in the other guard position. Sophomore Josh Zagorski (Morris Plains, NJ/Parsippany Hills HS) will be the starting center.

DEFENSIVE FRONT: Junior defensive tackle John Kwiatkowski (Whitehall/Whitehall HS) is the only returning starter on the defensive front but there is plenty of experience. Kwiatkowski had 25 tackles, three tackles for loss and three and a half sacks last season. Senior Dustin Collier (Easton/Freedom HS) and sophomore Tom Blackledge (Sellersville/Pennridge HS) will move into the starting roles at the defensive ends after being backups last season. Collier had 13 tackles while Blackledge had four stops. Sophomore Pat Mancini (Milford, NJ/Delaware Valley Regional HS) will start at the other tackle position after making ten tackles last fall. Junior Mike Gurdineer (Westtown, NY/Minisink Valley HS), a starter on the offensive line last season will be a reserve on the defensive front this season.

THE LINEBACKERING CORP: Senior J.D. Rhinehart (Washington, NJ/Warren Hills Regional HS) and sophomore John Cupples (Allentown/Allentown Central Catholic HS) return to anchor the linebackers this fall. Rhinehart, an outside linebacker, was third on the team with 91 tackles last season with 12 tackles for loss and three and a half sacks. Rhinehart also had three interceptions. Cupples stepped into the starting middle linebacker position in the middle of 1999 and responded with 70 tackles and two interceptions. Sophomore Bill Engler (Coopersburg/Southern Lehigh HS) moves from the middle to the outside this season, his first as a starter. Engler had four tackles last year.

THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Senior cornerback Doug Joseph (Allentown/Parkland HS) returns to lead the defensive backfield in his fourth season as a starter. Joseph had 44 tackles, three interceptions and a team high 15 pass break-ups a year ago. Sophomore Nate Pogue (Bethlehem/Liberty HS), who started at the end of 1999, will start at the other cornerback position. Pogue had three interceptions and 39 tackles last season. Junior Mike Wukitsch (Allentown/Allentown Central Catholic HS) and sophomore Jarrod Pence (Livingston, NJ/Livingston HS) will move into starting safeties this fall. The duo replaces Jason Goldan and Steve DiRenzo, who had 208 tackles and four interceptions last fall. Pence had 26 tackles last season while Wukitsch has hampered by injuries.

KICKING GAME: Junior Marc Roesch (Egg Harbor City, NJ/St. Augustine HS), who handled the kickoffs last season, will be the place-kicker this season. He is backed up by freshman Joshua Miller (Boyertown/Boyertown HS). Freshman Alex Myshak (Lake Ariel/North Pocono HS) will be the Greyhounds punter this season while freshman John McLain (Belvidere, NJ/Belvidere HS) will be the reserve.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Junior Michael Abbate and freshman Tim Barlok will be the kickoff and punt returners this season. Abbate had six punt returns for 74 yards and eight kickoff returns for 141 yards last season. Sophomore Josh Fick and freshman Kevin Miltenberger will also return kicks.

OVERTIME ‘HOUNDS: Moravian has played a total of seven overtime games, including last year’s with Delaware Valley, since the NCAA instituted the rule for the 1996 season and is 5-2 all-time in the extra-session.

ON THE AIRWAVES: For the fourth straight year, the Greyhounds football game will be aired on WGPA, Sunny 1100 AM. Phil May will handle the play-by-play call with color commentary from Jim Wills.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please contact SID Mark Fleming, either at Moravian’s sports information office (610/861-1472) or at home (610/758-8721) or Delaware Valley SID Matt Levy at (215/489-2937).