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: Saturdays 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 years
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 Valleys 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 Smiths 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 seasons game, will start at quarterback for Delaware Valley with Shenkos
graduation. Grecos 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 Valleys 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 seasons 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 Ficks 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 60", 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 years 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 Moravians
sports information office (610/861-1472) or at home (610/758-8721) or Delaware Valley SID Matt
Levy at (215/489-2937).
|