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: Saturdays meeting will be the 56th in the series with Albright holding
a 31-23-1 advantage. The Lions won last seasons game 21-8 while Moravians 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 Albrights 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 Kings 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. Moravians 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
seasons 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
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: 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 Moravians sports
information office (610/861-1472) or at home (610/758-8721) or Albright SID Jim Rude at
(610/921-7833).
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