Sports News: Fall 2000

September 11, 2000

MORAVIAN VERSUS ALBRIGHT FOOTBALL PREVIEW

THE GAME: Moravian looks win its second game of the year in its home opener against Albright College in a Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth game against. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Steel Field.

THE COACHES: Scot Dapp (West Chester ’73) is in his 14th season at Moravian, with a career record of 83-50-1 (.623). 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.

Albright coach E.J. Sandusky (Penn State ’92) is in his fourth season at the school with an overall record of 17-14 (.548).

THE SERIES: Saturday’s meeting will be the 56th in the series with Albright holding a 31-23-1 advantage. The Lions won last season’s game 21-8 while Moravian’s last win in the series was two years ago in Bethlehem, 17-7.

LAST TIME THEY MET: In Reading last fall, Moravian fell to Albright by the score of 21-8. The Lions jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second quarter on a touchdown run by Keith Johnson. Moravian also scored two points in the second quarter when Tom Blackledge (Sellersville/Pennridge HS) tackles Albright’s Matt Santoro in the end zone for a safety. Albright would build its lead to 21-2 by early in the fourth quarter on a touchdown pass from Mike Strack to Frank Puleo and a Santoro run. The Greyhounds only touchdown of the game came in less than seven minutes to play as quarterback Rob Petrosky connected on a 36-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Keith Moore (Perkasie/Pennridge HS). Petrosky completed 16 of 42 passes for 186 yards in the game while fullback Kirk Harryn led the Greyhound rushing attack with 44 yards on 11 carries. Santoro ran for 122 yards on 29 carries for Albright while Strack completed six of 11 pass attempts for 36 yards. Defensively for the Greyhounds, linebacker J.D. Rhinehart (Washington, NJ/Warren Hills Regional HS) had 15 tackles, 13 solo, while safety Steve DiRenzo had 14 tackles, 12 solo.

LAST WEEK: Sophomore quarterback Charlie Bowden (Parlin, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial HS) completed 11 of 20 passes for 136 yards and led all four scoring drives as Moravian earned a 19-10 victory at Delaware Valley College. The season opening victory for the Greyhounds was their first since defeating King’s College to begin the 1996 season. Bowden led the Greyhounds to a 3-0 lead with 3:56 remaining in the second quarter. Junior Marc Roesch (Egg Harbor City, NJ/St. Augustine HS) connected on a 28-yard field goal after Bowden took Moravian 29 yards in nine plays to set up the kick. After falling behind 7-3 with 33 seconds to play in the second quarter, Moravian started at its own 38-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Bowden hit sophomore wide receiver Jarod Rhinehart for a 22-yard completion. After a timeout, Bowden connected with junior wideout Michael Abbate (South Plainfield, NJ/Bishop Ahr HS) for an 11-yard gain out of bounds. Bowden then connected with Rhinehart again for a 26-yard completion to the Delaware Valley three-yard line. Bowden flipped the ball to Abbate on an option play after the timeout to give the Greyhounds a 9-7 halftime lead. Bowden led the Greyhounds to ten points in the final stanza. The Greyhounds took the lead for good 26 seconds into the fourth quarter as sophomore Josh Fick (Emmaus/Emmaus HS) took a Bowden handoff 40 yards up the middle for a touchdown. Moravian’s final score came with 6:40 left on a 33-yard field goal by Roesch. On defense for the Greyhounds, sophomore linebacker Bill Engler (Coopersburg/ Southern Lehigh HS) had 10 tackles with two for loss and half a sack. Senior linebacker J.D. Rhinehart (Washington/Warren Hills Regional HS) had 12 tackles with one and a half sacks, a forced fumble and three tackles for loss. Sophomore safety Jarrod Pence (Livingston, NJ/Livingston HS) had a pair of interceptions and six tackles while junior safety Mike Wukitsch (Allentown/Allentown Central Catholic HS) had one interception, three pass break-ups and five tackles.

SCOUTING ALBRIGHT: The Lions come to Bethlehem after a season opening loss to Wilkes University, 22-21. Junior quarterback Mike Strack completed 18 of 24 passes for 236 yards last week. His top targets are seniors Jeff Haberl (5 receptions, 41 yards) and Rich Kolka (4 catches, 49 yards) and junior Jason Scheerer (3 receptions, 90 yards). Junior Keith Johnson led the Albright ground game with 58 yards on 13 carries while junior B.J. Scarduzio had 37 yards and a touchdown on 10 attempts. Freshman Burt Wenzel averaged 33.0 yards per punt on seven attempts last week. The Lions defense played big against Wilkes, turning a pair of turnovers into touchdowns. Junior George Merrill made his three-extra-point attempts. Junior Mike Beckley returned an interception 52 yards for a touchdown and junior Todd Hoffman picked up a fumble and took it 37 yards for a score. Junior linebacker Dave Barr and junior linebacker Tom Fitti each had nine tackles in the game with Barr collecting one sack. The Lions had eight sacks last week including three and a half by senior defensive tackle Russell Benditt and two by senior defensive end Dan Kerlin.

YOUNG, BALANCED & EXPERIENCED ‘HOUNDS: Of the 75 players on the Moravian roster, 25 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 MAC: The Greyhounds lead the MAC in pass defense at 1126.0 yards per game and total defense at 166.0 yards per contest. Moravian is third in rushing defense at 40.0 yards per game and second in scoring defense at 10.0 points per game. On the offensive side of the ball, the Greyhounds are fifth in rushing offense (91.0 ypg), sixth in pass offense (203.0 ypg) and seventh in total offense (294.9 ypg). Sophomore safety Jarrod Pence is tied for the lead in the MAC at 2.0 interceptions per game while sophomore tailback Josh Fick is tied for fifth in rushing yards per game at 58.0. Senior linebacker Jarod Rhinehart was named to the MAC Football Honor Roll on Monday for his performance last week.

POLL POSITION: Moravian was selected to tie for fifth in the MAC Commonwealth preseason poll this season while Albright was picked fourth in the MAC Commonwealth poll. Lycoming College was again selected as the top team in the MAC.

MOYER & BOWDEN TO LEAD THE ‘HOUNDS OFFENSE: Sophomore quarterback Charlie Bowden split time with senior signal caller Jed Moyer (Dresher/Upper Dublin HS) last week. Bowden completed 11 of 20 passes for 136 yards while Moyer was five of eight for 67 yards. The duo will split time again this Saturday against Albright College.

IN THE BACKFIELD: Sophomore tailback Josh Fick led the Greyhounds running attack last week with 58 yards on nine carries including a touchdown scamper of 40 yards. Senior tailback P.J. Jankowicz (Belle Meade, NJ/Hillsborough HS) needs just 124 yards to become the seventh Greyhound player to run for 2,000 yards in a career. Jankowicz had 17 yards on eight carries last week. Freshman wide receiver Kevin Miltenberger (Carlisle/Carlisle HS) had a pair of carries for 13 yards. Freshman fullback Eric Gustafson (Collingswood, NJ/Collingswood HS) ran for nine yards on four carries while freshman transfer Tim Barlok (Bethlehem/Bethlehem Catholic HS) had eight yards on five attempts.

THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds had seven players catch a pass last week led by freshman Kevin Miltenberger, who had six receptions for 36 yards. Junior Michael Abbate, who ran for a touchdown, grabbed three passes for 33 yards while sophomore Jarod Rhinehart had two receptions for 48 yards. Sophomore tight end Richard Kulp (Walnutport/Northampton HS) caught a pair of passes for 39 yards.

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: Sophomore Pat Mancini (Milford, NJ/Delaware Valley Regional HS) led the defensive line with six tackles including two for loss last week. Sophomore Tom Blackledge had five tackles, two for loss and a sack while junior John Kwiatkowski (Whitehall/Whitehall HS) also had five tackles and one sack. Sophomore Brian Cascioli (Coopersburg/ Southern Lehigh HS) made four tackles last week. Junior Mike Gurdineer (Westtown, NY/Minisink Valley HS) and senior Dustin Collier (Easton/Freedom HS) each had two tackles last week.

THE LINEBACKERING CORP: Senior J.D. Rhinehart led the Greyhound defense with 12 tackles last weekend including three for loss and one and a half sacks. Rhinehart also forced a fumble in the game. Sophomore Bill Engler, who was making his first collegiate start, had ten tackles, two for loss and half a sack while sophomore John Cupples (Allentown/Allentown Central Catholic HS) had four tackles. Freshman Steve Maslanek (Stockholm, NJ/Vernon Township HS) made three stops.

THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Sophomore safety Jarrod Pence had six tackles and two interceptions last week in his first career start while junior safety Mike Wukitsch had five tackles, and interception and three pass break-ups. Senior cornerback Doug Joseph (Allentown/Parkland HS) and sophomore cornerback Nate Pogue (Bethlehem/Liberty HS) each had four tackles against Delaware Valley with Joseph breaking up four passes and Pogue knocking down two. Pogue had an interception nullified on a penalty.

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. Roesch was one of two on extra-points and two of three on field goal attempts last week. Roesch made field goals of 28 and 33 yards but missed a 30-yarder. Freshman Alex Myshak (Lake Ariel/North Pocono HS) is the Greyhounds punter and he averaged 32.4 yards per punt last week on five kicks.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Senior Doug Joseph, Junior Michael Abbate and freshman Tim Barlok will be the kickoff and punt returners this season. Abbate returned three punts for 16 yards last week while Barlok had a pair of kickoff returns for 60 yards. Joseph had one kickoff return for 19 yards.

OVERTIME ‘HOUNDS: Moravian has played a total of seven overtime games 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 Albright SID Jim Rude at (610/921-7833).