Monday, September 12, 2005

MORAVIAN GREYHOUNDS, 1-1 (1-1 MAC)

KING'S COLLEGE MONARCHS, 1-1 (1-0 MAC)

1:30 p.m.; Saturday, September 17, 2005
Robet L. Betzler Fields (c. 3,000); Wilkes-Barre Township, PA

THE GAME: Moravian plays its first road game of the 2005 season, traveling to King's College in Middle Atlantic Conference action. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. at Robert L. Betzler Fields in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

THE COACHES: Scot Dapp (West Chester ’73) is in his 19th season at Moravian, with a career record of 111-75-1 (.596). He entered the season in the top 50th in winning percentage among NCAA Division III active coaches. Dapp has earned Coach-of-the-Year honors from the MAC three times including Co-Coach of the Year in 1997 and has led the ’Hounds to two appearances in the NCAA playoffs, the ECAC Southeast Championship game in 2002 and the ECAC Southwest Championship game last fall.
     King's coach Rich Manello (Springfield ’83) is in his 13th season at the school and he has an overall record of 53-72-1 (.425).

THE SERIES: Saturday’s meeting will be the 11th in the series with King's owning a 6-4 lead. Moravian snapped a five-game losing streak to the Monarchs last fall with a 21-18 come-from-behind win in Bethlehem. King's defeated the Greyhounds, 27-19 in Wilkes-Barre back in 2003.

LAST TIME THEY MET: In Bethlehem last fall, Senior quarterback Jerry Venturino (Hopatcong, NJ/Hopatcong HS) connected on a five-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jed Warsager with 29 seconds remaining to rally Moravian to a 21-18 victory over King’s College in MAC action. Venturino’s touchdown pass capped a wild second half that saw five lead changes and 36 of the game’s 39 points scored. The fourth quarter began with Venturino scoring on a six-yard bootleg run and a extra-point kick by Ken Macaulay giving the Greyhound a 14-12 lead. King’s retook the lead with 12:32 to play with a touchdown; however, the Monarchs missed a two-point conversion to keep the score at 18-14 King’s. The Greyhounds took control on their own 31-yard line with 1:44 remaining in the game after a King's punt. Venturino began the drive with a 13-yard pass to Warsager before hitting sophomore wideout Shawn Martell (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic HS) with a 19-yard pass to move the ball to the King’s 37-yard line. Venturino hit junior wide receiver Ben Hawkins (Belmar, NJ/Manasquan HS) with a 35-yard completion on fourth-and-13. Hawkins had five catches for 86 yards. After a pair of incomplete passes in the end zone, Venturino found Warsager for the go-ahead score. Macaulay’s extra-point gave the Greyhounds a 21-18 lead with 29 seconds remaining. Warsager had three receptions for 32 yards. Moravian senior cornerback Tyler Chomik (Allentown, PA/Allentown Central Catholic HS) intercepted King’s final pass attempt as time expired. King’s scored the only points of the first half on a 22-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter. Moravian scored on the opening drive of the second half when Venturino hit Martell with an 18-yard scoring strike and Macaulay’s extra-point gave the Greyhounds a 7-3 lead. Venturino completed 13 of 29 passes for 194 yards with two touchdowns and an interception while Martell caught four passes for 75 yards. King’s would pull within one-point on its first drive of the second half on another 22-yard field goal. King’s would retake the lead on a fake punt but the two-point conversion pass failed keeping the score at 12-7 King’s with 2:03 to play in the third. Venturino ran for 12 yards on nine carries and was sacked once. Moravian was limited to 127 yards on the ground on 37 carries. Junior tailback Chris Jacoubs (Fair Haven, NJ/Rumson-Fair Haven HS) had just 84 yards on 25 carries while junior tailback Marc Panepinto (Perkiomenville, PA/Boyertown HS) added two carries for 28 yards. Linebacker Bill Carasia has 12 tackles and two forced fumbles while senior linebacker Chad DeFelice (Pen Argyl, PA/Pen Argyl HS) added 11 tackles. Junior linebacker Cliff Garr (Easton, PA/Notre Dame HS) contributed nine tackles with two for loss and a sack.

LAST WEEK: Moravian ran for 299 yards on 50 carries with a pair of touchdowns, and the Greyhounds’ defense added another score as Moravian earned its first victory of 2005 defeating Susquehanna University, 22-10, in an MAC game at Rocco Calvo Field. Moravian improves to 1-1 overall and 1-1 in the MAC. The Greyhounds needed just two plays and a total of 57 seconds to take an early 6-0 lead. Junior tailback Chris Jacoubs ran for four yards on the first play of the game. Senior fullback Kevin Lukich (Ogdensburg, NJ/Wallkill Valley HS) took the next handoff and rumbled 63 yards up the middle for a touchdown. The run was the longest of Lukich’s career. Freshman Brian Maida’s (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Boro HS) extra-point attempt was wide. On Susquehanna’s third play of the game, Moravian junior linebacker Cliff Garr intercepted a pass and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown. Maida added the extra-point for a 13-0 Moravian lead with 12:24 remaining in the first quarter. Neither team would score again until the third quarter, although both squads missed field goal attempts in the second quarter. Maida was wide right from 28-yards out just two seconds before the intermission. After forcing a punt on Susquehanna’s first possession of the second half, the Greyhounds would drive 67 yards in eight plays and score on a 13-yard run by Jacoubs with 10:12 left in the third quarter. Maida’s extra-point was blocked by Susquehanna and returned for a two-point, defensive extra-point giving Moravian a 19-2 lead. Moravian would force Susquehanna to punt again, however, a fumble on the punt return gave the ball right back to the Crusaders. After driving inside the ten-yard line, Susquehanna was forced to attempt another field goal, but was wide right again from 33 yards out. During the ensuing Moravian drive, Jacoubs became the first player in Moravian history to surpass the 3,000-yard career rushing mark. He finished the game with 105 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries to increase his career total to 3,025 yards on 604 carries in just 23 career games. Lukich had 93 yards on six attempts in the game while Greyhound senior quarterback Jerry Venturino ran for 61 yards on 11 carries. Venturino completed just five of 16 passes in the game for 45 yards and one interception. Sophomore tight end Kris Bisci (Easton, PA/ Easton HS) and senior wide receiver Andrew Mazurek (West Orange, NJ/West Orange HS) each had one catch for 15 yards. Early in the fourth quarter, Moravian had a chance to extend the lead but Maida was short on a 37-yard field goal attempt. The Greyhounds would put their final points of the game on the scoreboard with 8:56 remaining in the contest when freshman Brian Reckenbeil (Branchburg, NJ/Somerville HS) connected on his first collegiate field goal attempt of 38 yards, extending the Moravian lead to 22-2. Senior linebacker Chad DiFelice led the Greyhound defense with ten tackles including six and a half tackles for loss, three sacks and a pass break-up. Senior safety Mario Bevilaqua (Scranton, PA/West Scranton HS) added seven tackles with one and a half for loss, a pass breakup and a forced fumble. Junior defensive end Alex Smith-Constantine (Secaucus, NJ/Secaucus HS) had an interception for Moravian to go with four tackles including one and a half for loss.

SCOUTING KING'S: The Monarchs enter the game with a 1-1 overall record and a 1-0 slate in MAC action after a 27-6 victory at Lebanon Valley College last Saturday. Senior quarterback Chris Barnic leads King's on the field. He has completed 28 of 61 passes for 309 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Senior wide receiver Blake Letchford has caught nine passes for 132 yards while sophomore wide receiver Tim Wacker, junior fullback Joe Tassoni and senior wide receiver Julian Walker each have five receptions. Walker also has a touchdown catch. Junior tailback John Ortiz leads the Monarch rushing attack with 243 yards and a touchdown on 53 carries while sophomore tailback Jeff Field has 67 yards on 16 attempts. Tassoni has gained 23 yards on four carries while Barnic, who has not been sacked yet this season, has 21 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. Freshman kicker Tim Lust is two-for-two on field goal attempts with a long of 27 yards and he has made all four of his extra-point attempts. Sophomore punter Jeff Searfass is averaging 36.8 yards per punt on eight punts with one fair caught and one inside the 20-yard line. Junior safety Craig Haywood has three punt returns for minus one yard and five kickoff returns for 93 yards. Freshman Jeramia Jones has two kickoff returns for 88 yards. Junior linebacker Tore Alaimo leads the Monarchs' defense with 30 tackles including two tackles for loss and one of the team's five sacks. Sophomore linebacker Mike Lyons has added 19 tackles with a pass break-up and a fumble recovery while junior linebacker John Haller has 16 tackles, a forced fumble and a pass break-up. Senior linebacker Antonio Robinson, freshman defensive back Victor Sierra and freshman defensive back Bob Cirko each have an interception for King's this fall.

MAC WEEKLY HONORS: Senior linebacker Chad DiFelice of Moravian was named the Middle Atlantic Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Greyhounds’ 22-10 victory over Susquehanna University. Senior fullback Kevin Lukich earned a spot on the Weekly Honor Roll for his performance. DiFelice led the Moravian defense for the second straight week in tackles. He had ten tackles including eight solo stops, six and a half tackles for loss of 31 yards, three sacks for loss of 14 yards and a pass defended in the Greyhounds’ victory over Susquehanna. The Moravian defense recorded seven sacks in the game and allowed just 212 yards on 68 plays to the Crusader offense. The Greyhounds gave up just 33 yards on 29 plays in the second half after being on the field for over 20 minutes in the first half. Lukich ran for 93 yards and a touchdown on just six carries to help Moravian in the victory. Lukich’s first carry of the game was a 63-yard touchdown run on Moravian’s second play of the game. The run was the longest of Lukich’s career and his first touchdown while the 93 yards was just one shy of his career high.

BALANCED & EXPERIENCED ‘HOUNDS: Of the 104 players on the Moravian roster, 40 are freshmen, 22 are sophomores and 16 are juniors. There are 26 seniors on this season’s squad, and the Greyhounds return 57 letterwinners and 15 starters.

GREYHOUNDS IN THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC CONFERENCE: Beginning four seasons ago, the Middle Atlantic Conference became an 11-team conference instead of two separate leagues. Moravian, which received two first place votes, was selected to finish in a tie for second in the MAC Preseason Coaches Poll this season with Widener University while King's College was sixth in the poll. Delaware Valley was selected as the top team in the MAC and received the other nine first place votes.

THE MAC STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Greyhounds are fourth in the MAC in total defense, allowing 289.0 yards per game. The squad is sixth in passing defense at 172.5 yards per game, and the defense is fifth in rushing yards allowed at 116.5. The Greyhounds are sixth in points allowed at 20.5 per game, and the squad is fourth in points scored per game at 22.0. Offensively, Moravian is eighth in the MAC at 297.5 yards per game. The Greyhounds are ranked second in rushing offense at 207.0 yards per game and ninth in passing offense at 90.5 yards per game. Moravian is seventh in turnover margin with a -0.50 per game average as the Greyhounds have committed six turnovers while forcing five turnovers. The Greyhounds are also first in the MAC in total rushing yards at 414, fourth down conversions at 75 percent (three of four) and sacks by with eight. Individually, senior quarterback Jerry Venturino is ranked eighth in passing yards per game at 90.5 yards, third in passing yards per completion at 15.1, tied for fourth in passing touchdowns with two, sixth in pass efficiency with a 95.9 rating and ninth in total offense at 132.0 yards per game. Junior running back Chris Jacoubs is ranked fourth in rushing yards per game at 92.5 yards per game, first in rushing attempts with 46, tied for first in rushing touchdowns with two and second in rushing yards with 185. Senior fullback Kevin Lukich leads the MAC in yards per rush with an average of 13.9 yards per carry. Senior wide receiver Ben Hawkins tops the MAC in yards per catch with an average of 22.4 yards, and he is fifth in reception yards with 112, eighth in receiving yards per game at 56.9 yards per game and tied for fourth in receiving touchdowns with one. Senior punter Corey Czerniak (Randolph, NJ/Randolph HS) is seventh in the MAC with an average of 31.7 yards per punt and tied for fifth in number of punts with seven. Freshman kicker Brian Maida is seventh in the MAC in kick scoring with 2.5 points per game while freshman Brian Reckenbeil is tied for ninth at 1.5 points per game. Both kickers are tied for third in the MAC with 0.50 field goals per game. Freshman wide receiver Rob Shaffer (Pottsville, PA/Pottsville HS) leads the MAC in kickoff return average at 26.5 yards per return while junior linebacker Cliff Garr is fifth in the MAC in interception return yards with 32 yards. Senior linebacker Chad DiFelice is tied for the lead in the MAC in tacklers per game at 11.0, and he also leads the conference in sacks with 1.50 per game and tackles for loss with 3.25 per contest. Garr is tied for 24th in tackles at 6.0 per game while senior defensive back Mario Bevilaqua is tied for 24th in tackles at 6.0 per game and tenth in passes defended with 1.5 per contest. Senior defensive back Tyler Chomik is tied for 34th in tackles with 5.5 per game and he is tied for third in passes defended at 2.00 per contest with junior defensive back Israel Aguila (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom HS). Senior defensive lineman Bryan Kohlbecker (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South HS) is tied for 37th in tackles with 5.0 per game, and he is tied for second in tackles for loss with 2.00 per contest and tied for sixth in sacks at 0.75 per game.

THE QUARTERBACKS: Senior quarterback Jerry Venturino has completed 12 of 29 passes for 181 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions this season. Venturino has also added 83 yards on 14 carries while being sacked twice. Sophomore quarterback Sean Hill (West Reading, PA/Wyomissing HS) has completed his only pass attempt for no yards and has been sacked three times while seeing action in both games this season.

IN THE BACKFIELD: In the backfield, junior running back Chris Jacoubs leads Moravian with 185 yards and two touchdowns on 46 carries. Jacoubs has 3,025 yards (first all-time at Moravian) in just 23 career games with 13 100-plus yard games in 19 starts, including four games over 200 yards. Jacoubs became the first player in school history to reach 3,000 rushing yards in a career against Susquehanna University and the only player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons in 2003 and 2004. He is third all-time with 168 points. Senior fullback Kevin Lukich has 97 yards and a touchdown on seven carries while junior fullback Joe Costanzo (Barnstead, NH/Bow HS & Tilton School) has added 21 yards on three carries. Junior running back Marc Panepinto has 13 yards on five attempts this season.

THE WIDE RECEIVERS: Senior wide receiver Ben Hawkins leads the Greyhounds with five receptions for 112 yards and a touchdown. Junior wide receiver Shawn Martell and sophomore tight end Kris Bisci each have two receptions for 18 yards with Bisci adding a touchdown reception. Moravian has had seven different players catch a pass this season with senior wide receivers Andrew Mazurek and Russ Demko (Hellertown, PA/Saucon Valley HS) each catching a pass as well as junior running back Chris Jacoubs and freshman wide receiver Rob Shaffer.

OFFENSIVE LINE: The Greyhounds’ front line includes seniors Scott Burke (Holmdel, NJ/Holmdel HS), Salvatore DeWalt (Allentown, PA/Allentown Central Catholic HS) and Brenten Runne (Stanhope, NJ/Hopatcong HS) and juniors Andrew Remsing (Bath, PA/Northampton HS) and Dave Kircher (Manasquan, NJ/Manasquan HS). DeWalt was selected to the 2005 Lindy’s Preseason All-American First Team center. Last season, the Greyhounds set single season records for rushing yards 2,541 and total offense 4,479 yards a year ago and the line has an average size of six feet, two inches and 280 pounds.

DEFENSIVE FRONT: Senior Bryan Kohlbecker leads the defensive line with ten tackles including four tackles for loss and one and a half a sacks. Senior Steve Cline (Union Beach, NJ/Keyport HS) has added nine tackles with two for loss and one pass defended. Senior Robert Stockley (Red Bank, NJ/Middletown South HS) has contributed seven tackles with one and a half a tackles for loss and one sack while junior Alex Smith-Constantine has seven tackles with two and a half for loss and an interception. Junior defensive end Nick Feo (Hampton, NJ/Voorhees HS) has three tackles with two tackles for loss and one sack.

THE LINEBACKER CORPS: Senior linebacker Chad DiFelice leads the Moravian defense last week with 22 tackles including six and a half tackles lor loss, three sacks, a pass break-up, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Junior Cliff Garr has added 12 tackles with one tackle for loss and one sack while freshman Andrew Morrissey (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus HS) has ten tackles, one tackle for loss and half a sack. Sophomore linebacker Kerry Myers (Easton, PA/Easton HS) has two tackles with half a tackle for loss in two games. Sophomores Arturo Duran (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood HS) and Dan Edleman (Pottstown, PA/The Hill School) each have one tackle this season. Freshman linebacker Kevin McGorry (Whitehall, PA/Allentown Central Catholic HS) also has one tackle.

THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: In the defensive backfield, senior safety Mario Bevilaqua has made 12 tackles with one and a half tackles for loss, three passes defended and a forced fumble. Senior cornerback Tyler Chomik has added 11 tackles with one for loss and four passes defended. Junior cornerback Israel Aguila has made nine tackles with one for loss, four passes defended, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble while senior safety GJ Weiss (Gilbertsville, PA/St. Pius X HS) has added ten tackles with half a tackle for loss and one pass break-up. Sophomore defensive back Matt Sheridan (Magnolia, NJ/Sterling HS) has three tackles while junior defensive back Tom Carroll (Blackwood, NJ/Paul VI HS) has made four stops.

KICKING GAME: Senior Corey Czerniak is averaging 31.7 yards per punt on seven attempts. He has a long punt of 43 yards with two punts fair caught and two inside the 20-yard line. Freshman Brian Maida has connected on one of three field goal attempts with a long of 25 yards versus Delaware Valley College, and he is two for five on extra-point attempts. Freshman kicker Brian Reckenbeil handles the kickoff duties for Moravian, and he is one-for-one on field goal attempts with a long of 38 yards versus Susquehanna.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Freshman wide receiver Rob Shaffer has three punt returns for zero yards and four kickoff returns for 106 yards including a long kickoff return of 45 yards. Shaffer has also made two special teams tackles as has junior wide receiver Shawn Martell. Martell also returned three kickoffs for 49 yards and a long of 22 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 fourth 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 has had 14 winning seasons in Dapp’s 18 years. The 11-straight winning seasons is the longest in school history. Dapp ranks third among Greyhound coaches in winning percentage.

ON THE AIRWAVES: For the ninth straight year, the Greyhounds' games will be on the radio. Moravian's games will be aired on WKAP Oldies 1470 AM for the second straight year. Jim Vaughn calls the play-by-play call with color commentary from Karl Baker and technical assistance from John Elliott.

STARTERS PLAYER OF THE GAME: As part of Moravian's new radio contract with Oldies 1470 WKAP, the announcers will select the Starters Player of the Game for Moravian during the St. Luke's Hospital Post-Game Show. Last week, senior linebacker Chad DiFelice was selected as the Starters Player of the Game for his performance. DiFelice had ten tackles, eight of them solo stops, six and a half tackles for loss, three of Moravian's seven sacks and a pass break-up. Starters Restaurant, a sponsor of Moravian College Athletics, is located on Route 378 South of Bethlehem.