Monday, September 10, 2001

MORAVIAN AT FDU-MADISON FOOTBALL PREVIEW

1:00 p.m.; Saturday, September 15, 2001
Robert T. Shields Field (c. 4,000); Madison, NJ

THE GAME: Moravian looks to win its first game of the season in its first road contest, traveling to Madison, New Jersey to battle FDU-Madison in a Middle Atlantic Conference Game.  Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Robert T. Shields Field.

THE COACHES: Scot Dapp (West Chester '73) is in his 15th season at Moravian, with a career record of 88-55-1 (.615).  He entered the season 43rd 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.

FDU-Madison coach Bill Klika (Colgate '67) is in his 25th season at the school with an overall mark of 68-146-1 (.319).

THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting will be the 7th in the series with the Greyhounds owning a 5-1 lead.  Moravian won last season's meeting, 36-13, and the Greyhounds won the first four meetings in the series.  FDU-Madison's only victory came in 1999 with a 13-10 win, the last time the two squads played in Madison, NJ.

LAST TIME THEY MET: In Bethlehem last fall, the Greyhounds jumped out to a 16-0 halftime lead and the squad led 23-0 before winning 36-13.  Running backs Frank Starner and Tim Barlok (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic HS) each gained 54 yards with one touchdown and fullback P.J. Jankowicz had 32 yards and a touchdown to become the seventh player in Moravian history to surpass the 2,000-yard career rushing mark.  Tailback David Darmofal (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights HS) added 32 yards on the ground.  Quarterback Charlie Bowden (Parlin, NJ/Sayreville War Memorial HS) completed 16 of 23 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns, both to Jankowicz, who led the receivers with 73 yards on three catches.  Running back Ed Cracchiolo led FDU-Madison with 65 yards on 14 carries with one touchdown.  Quarterback Mark Pollifrone completed seven of 12 pass attempts for the Devils for 85 yards.  Wideout Keith O'Hara had three catches for 42 yards for FDU-Madison.  On the defensive side of the ball, the Greyhounds were led by linebacker John Cupples (Allentown, PA/Allentown Central Catholic HS) who had ten tackles.  Defensive end Dustin Collier had five tackles, a sack, a fumble recovery and an interception for Moravian.  Linebacker Tom Pouliot led the FDU-Madison defense with 11 tackles with one for loss.

LAST WEEK:  The Greyhounds opened the 2001 season with a disappointing 14-13 loss to King's College.  Moravian led 13-0 heading to the fourth quarter but was unable to hold on for the win.  The Greyhounds led 6-0 at halftime after a pair of second quarter field goals.  Senior Marc Roesch (Egg Harbor City, NJ/St. Augustine HS) connected on a career-long of 40 yards with 12:38 minutes left and senior Jim McIntyre (Hackettstown, NJ/Hackettstown HS) made a 32-yarder with 11 seconds left in the half.  Roesch also made his debut as the Greyhounds punter and was called on ten times.  He averaged 29.1 yards per kick with a long of 42 yards and five downed inside the 20-yard line.  Moravian extended the lead to 13-0 with 1:33 left in the third quarter on a two-yard touchdown dive by sophomore tailback Tim Barlok.  McIntyre made the extra-point.  Barlok, who averaged over 60 yards per game last season, was held to six yards on seven carries by the King's defense.  The Monarch defense held the entire Moravian running game to just 16 yards on 31 carries.  Junior quarterback Charlie Bowden led the Greyhound offense, completing 19 of 39 passes for 226 yards.  Bowden's top target was junior wide receiver Jarod Rhinehart (Washington, NJ/Warren Hills Regional HS) who caught four passes for 90 yards.  Bowden completed a pass to nine different players in the game.  Sophomore tailback Dave Darmofal led the Greyhounds on the ground with just 10 yards on five carries.  Defensively, junior linebacker Bill Engler (Coopersburg, PA/Southern Lehigh HS), sophomore linebacker Steve Maslanek (Stockholm, NJ/Vernon Township HS) and sophomore cornerback John Panikiewsky (Carteret, NJ/Carteret HS) each made ten tackles for the Greyhounds.  Panikiewsky had two tackles for loss while Maslanek recovered one fumble.  Junior defensive lineman Pat Mancini (Milford, NJ/Delaware Valley Regional HS), who had seven tackles, and Panikiewsky each forced fumbles in the game.  Junior linebacker John Cupples had seven tackles with one sack and a forced fumble while Cowlishaw had eight tackles in his first career start.  Senior safety Mike Wukitsch (Allentown, PA/Allentown Central Catholic HS) and junior defensive lineman Tom Blackledge (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge HS) each had fumble recoveries in the game.  Blackledge and McIntyre each made five stops.

SCOUTING FDU-MADISON: The Devils enter Saturday's game with an overall and MAC record of 0-1 after a tough 28-26 loss at Juniata College on a field goal with nine seconds left in regulation last weekend.  FDU-Madison used two quarterbacks last Saturday with sophomore quarterback Mike Passero completing nine of 17 passes for 141 yards and one touchdown and junior signal caller Patrick O'Neill completing four of 13 passes for 88 yards and one touchdown.  O'Neill, who was intercepted three times, had a long throw of 70 yards while Passero had a long of 36 yards.  The top targets for the Devils have been junior Quadir Muhammad, five catches for 65 yards and a score, senior wideout Frank Uhrin, four receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown, and sophomore wide receiver Mike Daly, four catches for 34 yards.  On the ground, junior running back Ed Cracchiolo gained 214 yards on 37 carries with two touchdowns last weekend at Juniata.  Junior Nathan Teale was called on eight times to punt last Saturday and he averaged 30.9 yards per punt with a long of 46 yards.  Junior place kicker Eric Eickhorst was two for two on extra-points.  Senior defensive lineman Ken Freeman led the Devils defense with ten tackles last weekend with two pass break-ups and two forced fumbles.  Senior linebacker Justin Zaleski also had ten tackles with three pass break-ups and a forced fumble.  Junior linebacker Mike Biancella and junior defensive back Frank Nolasco each had nine tackles in the game with Nolasco making three tackles for loss.  Freshman defensive back Steve Butler made two interceptions last weekend and he recovered one fumble to go along with three tackles.

YOUNG, BALANCED & EXPERIENCED 'HOUNDS: Of the 84 players on the Moravian roster, 30 are freshmen, 19 are sophomores and 26 are juniors.  There are nine seniors on this season's squad and the Greyhounds return 39 letterwinners and 16 starters.

GREYHOUNDS IN THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC CONFERENCE: Beginning this season, the Middle Atlantic Conference will be an 11-team conference instead of two separate leagues.  Moravian was selected to finish fourth in the MAC Preseason Coaches Poll this season while FDU-Madison was picked tenth in the MAC poll.  Widener University, which reached the NCAA semifinals last season, was again selected as the top team in the MAC.

MAC STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Greyhound defense is ranked third in the Middle Atlantic Conference after the first week of statistical rankings by the conference.  Moravian is allowing 263.0 yards per game.  The defensive squad is fourth in passing defense at 115.0 yards per game, seventh in rushing defense at 148.0 yards per game and fourth in scoring defense at 14.0 points per game.  Offensively, the Greyhounds are ranked ninth in total offense at 242.0 yards per contest.  Moravian is fourth in passing offense at 226.0 yards per contest, eighth in scoring offense at 13.0 points per game and 11^th in rushing defense at 16.0 yards per game.  Individually, junior quarterback Charlie Bowden is ranked third in the MAC in passing yards per game at 226.0.  Bowden is sixth in total offense at 200.0 yards per game and eighth in pass efficiency at 97.4.  Junior wide receiver Jarod Rhinehart is raked sixth in receiving yards per contest with an average of 90.0.  Senior kicker Marc Roesch is ninth in punting with an average of 29.1 yards per punt.  Roesch is seventh in kick scoring at 3.0 points per game and he is tied for second in the MAC in field goals per game at 1.0 and tied for first in field goal percentage at 1.000.  Senior kicker Jim McIntyre is tied for fourth in kick scoring at 4.0 points per game, tied for second in field goals per game with 1.0 and tied for first in extra-point percentage at 1.000.  Junior linebacker Bill Engler, sophomore linebacker Steve Maslanek and sophomore cornerback John Panikiewsky are all tied for fourth in the MAC in tackles per game at 10.0 tackles a contest.

BOWDEN LEADING THE 'HOUNDS OFFENSE: Junior quarterback Charlie Bowden completed 19 of 39 passes for 226 yards last weekend in the Greyhounds loss to King's.  Bowden hit nine different receivers in the game.

IN THE BACKFIELD: Sophomore tailback David Darmofal led the Greyhound rushing attack last Saturday with 10 yards on five carries.  Senior fullback Jerod Dobry (Pottstown, PA/St. Pius X HS) had nine yards on two carries while sophomore tailback Tim Barlok had six yards and a touchdown on seven attempts.

THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds had nine different players catch a pass last Saturday, led by junior wide receiver Jarod Rhinehart who had four receptions for 90 yards.  Sophomore wide receiver Jeff Lowry (Catawissa, PA/Southern Columbia HS) had three catches for 28 yards while sophomore wideout Kevin Miltenberger (Carlisle, PA/Carlisle HS) had three receptions for 26 yards.  Senior wide receiver Michael Abbate (South Plainfield, NJ/Bishop Ahr HS), who played sparingly while recovering from an injury, grabbed three passes for 20 yards.

OFFENSIVE LINE: Moravian has three starters back on the offensive line this season led by senior right tackle Matt Gray (Point Pleasant, NJ/Point Pleasant HS).  Also back on the line are center sophomore Josh Zagorski (Morris Plains, NJ/Parsippany Hills HS) and junior left guard John Giacchi (Franklin, NJ/Pope John XXIII HS).  Moravian's offensive line will average 6'0", 265 this season.  The two new starters this season are freshman Andrew Leska (Coopersburg, PA/Southern Lehigh HS) and sophomore right guard Jeff Andruczyk (Hampton, NJ/Voorhees HS).

DEFENSIVE FRONT: Junior nose tackle Pat Mancini led the front six for the Greyhounds with seven tackles last weekend.  Mancini had seven tackles and forced one fumble in the game.  Junior defensive end Tom Blackledge added five tackles; two for loss and one fumble recovery.  Senior defensive end John Kwiatkowski (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall HS) and junior nose guard Brian Cascioli (Center Valley, PA/Southern Lehigh HS) each made one tackle in the game with Cascioli's stop coming for a loss.

THE LINEBACKERING CORP: Junior inside linebacker Bill Engler and sophomore outside linebacker Steve Maslanek each had ten tackles in the game versus King's last Saturday.  Maslanek also recovered a fumble in the game as did junior inside linebacker John Cupples.  Cupples had the Greyhounds only sack of the game and he had a total of seven stops.  Junior outside linebacker Vince Cowlishaw, who was making his first career start, had eight tackles including two for losses and one pass break-up.

THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Sophomore cornerback John Panikiewsky had 10 tackles as a starter.  Panikiewsky added two tackles for loss and one forced fumble.  Junior safety Jarrod Pence (Livingston, NJ/Livingston HS) made four tackles last Saturday versus King's and he led the Greyhounds with two pass break-ups.  Senior cornerback Jim McIntyre had five tackles while senior safety Mike Wukitsch added three tackles and a fumble recovery.

KICKING GAME: Senior Marc Roesch is kicking off and punting for the Greyhounds this season.  He had four kickoffs last weekend and was called on ten times to punt.  Roesch averaged 29.1 yards per punt with a long of 42 yards.  Five of his punts were placed inside the 20-yard line.  Roesch also kicked a career-long 40-yard field goal against King's to open the scoring.  Senior Jim McIntyre made a 32-yard field last week and he was one for one on extra-points.  Backing up Roesch and McIntyre will be sophomore Joshua Miller (Boyertown/Boyertown HS).

SPECIAL TEAMS: Sophomore Tim Barlok had three kickoff returns for an average of 16.3 yards with a long return of 22 yards.  Junior tailback Josh Fick (Emmaus, PA/ Emmaus HS) returned four punts last weekend for 13 yards with a long of seven 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.  Last year was the first time since 1996 that the Greyhounds did not play at least one overtime game.

WINNING WAYS: Moravian had 11 consecutive winning seasons-all under Coach Scot Dapp, from 1987 to 1997 and the squad has had 12 winning seasons in Dapp's first 14 years.  The 11 straight winning seasons is the longest streak in school history.  Dapp ranks third among Greyhound coaches in winning percentage.

ON THE AIRWAVES: For the fifth straight year, the Greyhounds football game will be aired on WGPA, Sunny 1100 AM.  Phil May calls 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 FDU-Madison SID W. Scott Giglio at (973/443-8965).